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Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851)
Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight, exhibited 1835
Oil on canvas; 36 3/8 x 48 3/8 in. (92.3 x 128.8 cm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection, 1942
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The industrial city of Newcastle was the center of Britain's coal trade in the nineteenth century. Turner elevates this image of its commercial wharf to the realm of history painting by modeling his composition on that of a Claudian seaport. His nocturnal light effects struck one contemporary critic as "neither night nor day." He painted this scene as a pendant to Venice: The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore (on view in the exhibition); the pair has been read as a commentary on the ascendancy of Britain and the corresponding decline of Venice.
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