The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Special Exhibitions: J. M. W. Turner

J. M. W. Turner

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		Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851) Sunrise with Sea Monsters, ca. 1840–45 Oil on canvas; 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Tate, London, Turner Bequest, 1856

This work has been associated with Turner's whaling scenes of about 1845–46. The putative sea monsters of its title, which is a twentieth-century invention, are likely a stylized amalgam of two or three fish—possibly gurnards or mackerel—that Turner had sketched.