1809, J.M.W. Turner, London from Greenwich Park -- Tate Britain (London)
From the museum label:
London was the largest, busiest city in the world at the time Turner painted this picture. He exhibited it with lines from a poem he had written himself, describing a hectic, oppressive city — a 'world of care' beneath a 'murky veil' of cloud, relieved only by the 'gleams of hope' offered by its architecture.
Greenwich Hospital -- a home for retired sailors of the Royal Navy -- is at the centre of the painting. The sunlit River Thames leads our eye to the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, towering above the distant city.
1809, J.M.W. Turner, London from Greenwich Park -- Tate Britain (London)
From the museum label:
London was the largest, busiest city in the world at the time Turner painted this picture. He exhibited it with lines from a poem he had written himself, describing a hectic, oppressive city — a 'world of care' beneath a 'murky veil' of cloud, relieved only by the 'gleams of hope' offered by its architecture.
Greenwich Hospital -- a home for retired sailors of the Royal Navy -- is at the centre of the painting. The sunlit River Thames leads our eye to the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, towering above the distant city.