This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lord Cornwallis(talk | contribs) at 01:36, 11 July 2024(←Created page with '{{Short description|Painting by J. M. W. Turner}} {{Infobox artwork | image_file=File:Joseph Mallord William Turner 024.jpg | backcolor= | painting_alignment= | image_size=350px | title= Calais Pier | artist= J. M. W. Turner | year= 1803 | type=Oil on canvas | height_metric= | width_metric= | height_imperial= | width_imperial= | metric_unit=cm | imperial_unit=in | museum=National Gallery | city=London...'). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 01:36, 11 July 2024 by Lord Cornwallis(talk | contribs)(←Created page with '{{Short description|Painting by J. M. W. Turner}} {{Infobox artwork | image_file=File:Joseph Mallord William Turner 024.jpg | backcolor= | painting_alignment= | image_size=350px | title= Calais Pier | artist= J. M. W. Turner | year= 1803 | type=Oil on canvas | height_metric= | width_metric= | height_imperial= | width_imperial= | metric_unit=cm | imperial_unit=in | museum=National Gallery | city=London...')
The painting was inspired by a visit Turner made to Calais the previous year when the Peace of Amiens led to a brief break in the French Revolutionary War against France. Having made the crossing during stormy weather, his ship was stuck outside the harbour for some time during which he made a number of sketches. Having transferred to the pilot boat he nearly drowned while getting ashore.[1] It shows a British packet boat arriving in the harbour.[2]
Turner's contemporary John Constable was privately critical of both this work and Turner's The Opening of the Vintage of Macon at the Royal Academy as he felt he had become "More and more extravagant and less attentive to nature". [3] However John Ruskin later hailed it as the first painting to display "Turner’s colossal power".[4]
The work is now in the collection of the National Gallery having been part of the Turner Bequest of 1856.
