Read the text below. It is a description of Turner’s painting, made by his good defender, art critic, a painter himself, John Ruskin. Use a dictionary when needed. Have another look at the painting, then, in five complete sentences, express your response to this work of art by agreeing or disagreeing with Ruskin. (Begin with your name and department.)
It is a sunset on the Atlantic, after a prolonged storm; but the storm is partially lulled, and the torn and streaming rain clouds are moving in scarlet lines to lose themselves in the hollow of the night. The whole surface of the sea included in the picture is divided into two ridges of enormous swell, not high, nor local, but a low, broad heaving of the whole ocean, like the lifting of its bosom by deep-drawn breath after the torture of the storm. Between these two ridges, the fire of the sunset falls along the trough of the sea, dyeing it with an awful but glorious light, the intense and lurid splendor which burns like gold and bathes like blood. Along this fiery path and valley, the tossing waves by which the swell of the sea is restlessly divided, lift themselves in dark, indefinite fantastic forms, each casting a faint and ghastly shadow behind it along the illumined foam. They do not rise everywhere, but three or four together in wild groups, fitfully and furiously, as the under-strength of the swell compels or permits them; leaving between them treacherous spaces of level and whirling water, now lighted with green and lamp-like fire, now flashing back the gold of the declining sun, now fearfully dyed from above with the indistinguishable images of the burning clouds, which fall upon them in flakes of crimson and scarlet, and give to the reckless waves the added motion of their own fiery flying. Purple and blue, the lurid shadows of the hollow breakers are cast upon the mist of the night, which gathers cold and low, advancing like the shadow of death upon the guilty ship (She is a slaver, throwing her slaves overboard. The near sea is encumbered with corpses) as it labors amidst the lightning of the sea, its thin masts written upon the sky with horror, and mixes its flaming flood with the sunlight—and cast far along the desolate heave of the sepulchral waves, incarnadines the multitudinous sea.
I believe, if I were reduced to rest Turner’s immortality upon any single work, I should choose this. Its daring conception—ideal in the highest sense of the word—is based on the purest truth, and wrought out with the concentrated knowledge of life; its color is absolutely perfect, not one false or morbid hue in any part or line, and so modulated that every square inch of canvas is a perfect composition; its drawing as accurate as fearless; the ship buoyant, bending, and full of motion; its tones are true as they are wonderful; and the whole picture dedicated to the most sublime of subjects and impressions—(completing thus the perfect system of all truth, which we have shown to be formed by Turner’s works)—the power, majesty, and deathfulness of the open, deep, illimitable sea.
John Ruskin: “Turner’s Water-Painting”, Modern Painters, Vol.I: 83-84)
deadline: March 31
Name: Sekely Arnold Roland/ pictura
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ruskin’s description because he explains exactly how scary and powerful the ocean looks in this painting. The way he describes the colors as "burning like gold and bathing like blood" fits the sunset perfectly and makes the scene feel very intense. I also think he is right about the "guilty ship," because the dark masts against the red sky make the boat look like it is being judged for its crimes. It is true that the water looks "treacherous" and wild, which helps the viewer feel the chaos of the slaves being thrown overboard. Overall, Ruskin helps me see that the painting is not just a pretty sunset, but a very sad and violent moment in history.