The Fighting Temeraire (1839) by J.M.W. Turner

On the left side of the painting, we see an ugly steam tug towing the magnificent British gunship, the Fighting Timber Rare, to its final birth to be broken up. The Fighting Timber Rare had done many heroic things for the British Navy in the beginning of the 19th century, but it had decayed over time and there was no further use. Turner decided to honor this ship by painting it against the colorful and heroic sunset. In a national competition organized by the BBC in 2005, this painting was chosen as the favorite painting in the whole country. There are a couple of reasons for this. The painting was made by Turner, one of the greatest British artists ever. He was revolutionary in that he liked to paint out in the open, something that was not done by his colleagues and only became popular a few decades later when the Impressionists embraced the idea. And this work is one of the best preserved ones by this unique artist. But maybe more important than this is that the Fighting Timber Rare represents an important part of Britain's history. The ship served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and became legendary during the Battle of Trafalgar. And so the ship deserved this last glorious moment during which Turner could eternalize its heroism. This was Turner's idea, and he took some liberties in depicting the ship. In reality, the ship had already been stripped from most of its valuables, like the masts. So Turner used his fantasy and added back its ornaments and masts to make it look more magnificent. And to further emphasize its beauty, he used warmer colors to make the ship more charming next to the ugly steam tug with its dark smoke.