|
|
 
|
|
Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851)
Staffa, Fingal's Cave, exhibited 1832
Oil on canvas; 36 x 48 in. (91.5 x 122 cm)
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
|
|
Following its rediscovery in 1772 by Sir Joseph Banks (1744–1820), Fingal's Cave, on the remote island of Staffa, became a pilgrimage destination for Romantic tourists. This geological curiosity featured in Sir Walter Scott's 1815 poem The Lord of the Isles and inspired Felix Mendelssohn's Hebridean overture of 1830. This canvas records Turner's journey via steamboat to this island off the western coast of Scotland; the artist recalled: "The sun getting towards the horizon, burst through the rain cloud, angry, and for wind."
Staffa, Fingal's Cave was the first painting by Turner to enter an American collection, though its owner, New Yorker James Lenox (1800–1880), initially was dismayed by the "indistinctness" of the artist's style.
|
|
|
Back to main page for this exhibition
Back to images from this exhibition
