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Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851)
The Shipwreck, exhibited 1805
Oil on canvas; 67 1/8 x 95 1/8 in. (170.5 x 241.5 cm)
Tate, London, Turner Bequest, 1856
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About 1800, shipwreck imagery figured prominently in both art and literature, often serving as a metaphor for human vulnerability before the forces of nature. With this painting, Turner, whose early reputation was made largely through marine pictures, was likely recalling the recent sinking of the Earl of Abergavenny off the coast of Weymouth in 1805. The painting's topicality, then, might have led to Turner's decision to have it engraved—his first oil to be reproduced in this fashion.
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