Charging into The Modern Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed

A detailed Summary of Charging into The Modern Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed

Turner has out-prodiged almost all former prodigies. He has made a picture with real rain, behind which is real sunshine, and you expect a rainbow every minute. Meanwhile, there comes a train down upon you, really moving at the rate of fifty miles a hour, and which the reader had best make haste to see, lest it should dash out of the picture....as for the manner in which 'Speed' is done, of that the less is said the better, -only it is a positive fact that there is a steam coach going fifty miles and hour. The world has never seen anything like this picture .

This was Thackeray's response to Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed upon seeing it at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1844. A large canvas displayed in the place of honour on the back wall of the East room of the exhibition, the painting was at the time and important and provocative comment on modern technology in general and more specifically on the steam locomotive and the Great Western Railway that was featured so prominently in the title. This painting was significant because although this was not the first time railways had been the depicted in art, it was the first time for this kind of subject matter to be taken up on such a large scale and for public display.

The subject matter of Rain, Steam and Speed is the Maidenhead railway crossing of the Thames. A golden brown landscape punctuated by the river to the left takes up the bottom portion of the painting. The top half is tinged by a blue sky that is marked by swirls of gold and white, which straighten around the around the locomotive, creating vertical lines above and behind its carriages and at the end and before the locomotive forms parallel vertical lines. Out of this comes the train, advancing along dark parallel iron rails, which are executed to look as though they are of infinite length. The eye is drawn to the "misty limitless distance". The speed in the title is suggested by the definition of the rail line at two points, this also serves to concentrate attention on the machine element, the locomotive. In reference to this subject matter Rodner says,

Public sentiment was divided between hope for the new modern possibilities the railways afforded, and trepidation over further destruction of the countryside and traditional ways of life that would inevitably come in the wake of and extended rail network. This is not the whole picture however, the effects of the expansion of railways, were more deeply consequential and insidious than the above would suggest. Finley says:

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Approximate Word count = 3642
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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