The Fighting Temeraire
The Fighting Temeraire ( full title: . Temeraire The Fighting tugged to her load Berth to be broken up, 1838) is an oil painting by the English painter JMW Turner from the year 1839.
It shows how the time of his 40 year old battleship HMS Temeraire second class is moved from a small tractor with a steam -powered already to his last berth in London to be scrapped. 33 years earlier the ship had played an important role in the Battle of Trafalgar by under the command of Horatio Nelson came to the aid of the beleaguered HMS Victory and thus contributed to the victory of the British fleet.
The painting now hangs in the National Gallery in London. Turner bequeathed it to the UK in 1851. In 2005 it was voted in a BBC poll for the Greatest Painting in Britain.
Designation
Literally translated, the full title The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her load Berth to be broken up, 1838: "The Fighting Temeraire being towed to her last Berth to be broken up, 1838 ." Commonly is the short title The Fighting Temeraire, which is also used by the National Gallery. Readers who are not familiar with the history of the UK, this title can easily lead to the erroneous assumption that the painting show a naval battle. The Fighting Temeraire, however, is a common since the Battle of Trafalgar in art and literature honorary title for the ship.
In German, the picture is also known as The Fighting Temeraire.
Trivia
The painting is a tribute in the 23rd film in the James Bond series Skyfall. The location of the painting in the National Gallery is the meeting place of James Bond and "Q". The painting is thus a symbol of the aging agent who has indeed made very deserving to be country, but to seemingly find no proper place more in a later time.