J.M.W. Turner

For my Humanities 440 class, I was assigned to choose and analyze one of Joseph Mallord William Turner's paintings that is on display in the National Gallery. I chose The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broke up. Here is the paper that I wrote:

J.M.W. Turner: The Fighting Temeraire

Joseph Mallord William Turner was a great Romantic style landscape painter, and is said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. Out of the several Turner paintings in the National Gallery, I have chosen to analyze J.M.W. Turner’s painting The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, painted in 1838. It is a depiction of a tug boat pulling a war vessel into harbor in the setting sun to be broken up. In 2005, this painting was voted the greatest painting in a British art gallery. In this particular painting, Turner used thick and somewhat wild brushstrokes. The paint is thicker in some spots than it is in others, giving the painting an uneven texture. The image is much less precise than previous classical images; it is almost considered abstract compared to the preceding styles of painting.

Turner uses very vibrant colors to depict the scene. Although the scene is of a ship in water, there is nearly no blue used in the painting of the sea or the sky. He uses many different shades of red, orange, and yellow which makes the sky look as if it is on fire. The ship seems to be nearly colorless, which brings even more attention to the striking sunset. Perhaps he is using the setting sun and the dark colors of the tug boat to bring the viewer’s focus to the small tug boat to emphasize its power and strength. Earlier landscape painters mostly painted very picturesque and ordered scenes. There were many strict rules set by Gilpin that were to be followed in order to paint a correct landscape; many artists such as Constable painted happy and ideal scenes. Extremely bold and bright colors were rarely used. Turner stepped out of the box and broke all these rules. The Fighting Temeraire is proof that Turner could paint a genre-style landscape painting in a completely different technique and still create a masterpiece.

Turner’s thick and “messy” brushstrokes evoke a sense of excitement and power from the viewer. It is evident that hard work is being performed and that there is a lot of action taking place; this definitely isn’t a peaceful and quiet setting. The cloudy sky brings a type of mysterious wonderment to what is happening and makes the viewer curious, thus pulling him/her into the subject of the painting. The rather large size of the image also contributes to its magnificence. If it happened to be smaller, I believe that its emotional impact on the viewer would not be as grand. The painting has a theme of conclusion. Turner depicts a ship which played a role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, which is being pulled away to be destroyed. The sun is setting, bringing the end to a long day’s work. This could represent the end of an era, such as romantic landscape painting. The image also brings hope; after the end of one day is the start of another.

Stonehenge, Stourhead, and Bath

As a group, we made a day trip to Stonehenge, Stourhead, and Bath. First we went to Stonehenge and wandered around this astonishing landmark for a while and wondered how it got there.

We then went to Stourhead Gardens and explored the beautiful landscape. We strolled along the path around the small lake and appreciated the amazing neo-classical architecture. There were lovely bridges, intriguing caves, and hundreds of different types of greenery. I could have spent hours just enjoying the wonderful weather and suroundings.
Our last stop of the day was Bath. An audio guide helped us tour around and learn all about the Roman Baths. We walked around town and saw the Royal Crescent, Bath Abbey, and the quaint little shops all over the city. It was a busy but wonderful day trip; I loved every place that we visited and hope to see them again sometime soon!

Stratford-upon-Avon

Last Week, we went to Stratford-upon-Avon, where William Shakespeare was born and lived. First we went to Mary Arden's house, who was Shakespeare's mother. The house dates back to around 1500. It was very quaint with it's low ceilings, slanting walls, and the overall home-made look of it all. There was also a little farm in the back with pigs, chickens, owls and more. Oh and a cow....


After Mary Arden's house, we went to Anne Hathaway's cottage. Anne Hathaway married Shakespeare when she was 26 and he was 18. She was most likely pregnant when they married. We saw many short beds in the cottage; apparently there was much superstition about sleeping while laying down because it looked like you were dead. Therefore they all slept sitting up. That night we saw a production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and enjoyed it very much. Stratford-Upon-Avon was really enjoyable and a great learning experience.

Church History in Preston and Liverpool

While on our trip up north, we visited Preston and Liverpool, both of which are full of the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We had a guide named Peter Fagg who was kind enough to spend the majority of his day with us in Preston. We all learned a lot about the beginnings of the church in England.

In this apartment on St. Wilfrid Street, some of the first missionaries to come to England (Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Isaac Russell, and Willard Richards) had an encounter with evil spirits. Joseph Smith rejoiced after hearing this news, for he said something great was about to come forth in the church.

The First nine baptisms in England occurred in this River, the River Ribble in Avenham Park. George Watt was the very first to be baptized. He knew shorthand and had a large part in helping Brigham Young with the General Discourses.
After spending some time in Preston, we made our way to Chorley, where the MTC and the Preston temple are located. We were given a while to walk around and admire the beautiful grounds..
On our last day of our trip up north, we paid a visit to Albert Dock, where 9 million emigrants came to America, 50,000 or more of which were Latter-day Saints making their way to Zion.

This statue was placed in Albert Dock to commemorate the thousands who sacrificed nearly everything and leave their homes to move to America.

The North!

Northern England: Vision of Idealism
The moist climate of Northern England makes it easy for plants of all kinds to grow, and I couldn't help but take close-ups of all the vibrantly colored flowers and leaves. Although a photograph of a large piece of landscape is beautiful, I often like to zoom up close and observe the amazingly detailed beauty of each subject that creates a landscape.

The bridge in the Japanese Garden at Adenham Park
I loved all the places we visited while up north, but one of my favorite parts about our excursion was actually getting places. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the coach and watching the amazing landscapes rush by. The green rolling hills, trees of all sizes, millions of sheep, and hundreds of miles of stone walls that were hand-built centuries ago captured my attention for many of the hours that we were driving. It amazed me to think about how many hours of hard labor were put into those walls and how hard working the people who built them must have been. I started to reflect on how our society has changed and how things have slowly become easier and thus mad us a lazier generation. We love our modern conveniences now, but are we really better off now than we were 100 years ago? Questions such as these put deep thoughts into my head and caused me to spend some time reflecting on them.

Another one of my favorite parts of the trip up north was the Lake District. We spent one night in a hostel in Browness on Lake Windermere. A few of us woke up before the sun and went for a hike/run around the lake and viewed the lake from the peak of one of the surrounding hills. There was a slight mist above the lake which gave the landscape a picturesque feel and the crisp air sharpened my senses, which made the trip even more enjoyable.

View of Lake Windermere from the top of a surrounding peak

Fountains Abbey was one of my favorite places I have visited since being here in England. I had never seen grass that green in my entire life. The rolling hills gave me a sense of peace and the ruins of the Abbey were extremely intriguing. To see the nature overtaking the structure was very symbolic of the power of nature and of God. He is more powerful than anything us humans can create. We spent hours just taking pictures of the awe inspiring scenery, and could have spent hours more doing so.

Northern England is the most picturesque places I have personally visited and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to witness such beauty.

As You Like It

On Monday September 14, we went to Shakespeare's As You Like It at the Globe Theater. It was my first time ever seeing a Shakespeare play performed professionally, and I enjoyed it much more that I expected. It is definitely easier to understand Shakespeare's wit when actors are performing it rather than just reading the lines from a book. For my Shakespeare class we were required to read an article and write a summary of it, including our opinion on the subject. I have posted the assignment below.

Cross-Dressing in Shakespeare’s Time

The article I have chosen to summarize is “Cross dressing, The Theater, and Gender Struggle” by Jean E. Howard which discusses cross-dressing in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Very few people dared to walk the streets of London dressed in clothing of the opposite sex, but there are records of it occurring, particularly with women. These bold women were punished; most everyone in the society was against the practice. Many women who dressed mannishly were accused of prostitution. There was also a strict sex-gender hierarchy at this time, and some believe cross-dressing was used as a way of going against the normal social order and challenging the male-dominant society. Cross-dressing opened the gap between one’s social station and how they were supposed to dress. When rules of apparel are broken, social classes begin to break down. If there are not distinct sexes, then there is no distinct social order or division of labor. In As You Like It on the other hand, the role of male dominance was reconfirmed by Rosalind’s act of cross-dressing. She maintains her femininity by acting like the love sick maid that she really was. She also enhances the distinction of sexes by role-playing the part of a girl although she is dressed as a boy.

I learned a lot from this article. I had never thought about the profound meanings of cross-dressing in plays. I also never thought about cross dressing in the times of the Renaissance and the effect it would have on class distinction. I think it is very interesting that women who dressed in a masculine way were accused of being prostitutes, while it is the opposite today; women who dress in mannish ways are often accused of being homosexual. I believe that because there is much less of a strict social class in this day and age, cross-dressing is more widely accepted.

Dover and Canterbury

We made our first day trip to Dover and Canterbury last week, and what a wonderful trip it was! After a few hours on the coach, we pulled up to Dover and I marveled at the beauty of the white cliffs with the castle set upon them. This was my first time ever visiting a castle and it was so interesting! It was crazy to think that this structure that was hundreds of years old was once used as a fortress; I could have been standing where kings had stood many years before. I could feel that there was so much history within the walls. Oh how I wished those walls could talk; to think of the stories they would tell! An actor posed as the king and demonstrated what it would have been like to be a visitor to the castle back in medieval times, and brought it all to life. After visiting the castle, we drove down to the beach and walked along the pier and sat on the rocky sand (if you can call it sand).

Our next adventure on the trip was Canterbury. We made our own little pilgrimage to Canterbury and visited the cathedral, where the archbishop of Canterbury (head of the Church of England) resides. It was so neat to be in such a famous and historically rich building. The architecture was gorgeous! It was so fun to see the layers of history being built on each other, from Romanesque with the low arches and small windows to Gothic with the rib vaults and beautiful large stained-glass windows. I have learned about the architecture in cathedrals and this was the first time seeing a real example with my own eyes. It was so exciting! My tour guide showed us around the entire cathedral and taught me loads about the history of Canterbury, Thomas Beckett, the Puritans, and so much more. Visiting Canterbury made me very excited to tour other cathedrals throughout Europe and gain more knowledge!