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Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844.
Oil on canvas, 91 x 122 cm. Turner Bequest.
The
scene is fairly certainly identifiable as Maidenhead railway bridge, which
spans the Thames between Taplow and Maidenhead. The bridge, designed by
the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and completed in 1839, has two main
arches of brick, very wide and flat. The view is to the east, towards
London.
On the left people are boating on the river, while to the right a
ploughman works on a field. The tranquility of these traditional
activities contrasts with the steam train rushing towards the viewer, the
stark outline of its black funnel clearly visible. In front of the train a
hare, one of the speediest of animals, dashes for cover.
Turner's picture can be associated with the 'railway mania' which swept
across England in the 1840s. It is also an outstanding example of his late
style of painting. Sky and river landscape are dissolved in a haze of
freely applied oil paint, to give a striking impression of the contrasting
movement of driving rain and speeding train. |
