1834 (ca.), J.M.W. Turner, The Fall of Anarchy (?) -- Tate Britain (London)
From the museum label: This unfinished painting shows a skeletal figure on horseback emerging from atmospheric mists. This probably represents Anarchy -- an oppressor of the people -- as imagined in the final episode of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem The Masque of Anarchy. The poem was written in immediate response to the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, which saw the military storm a peaceful reform protest in Manchester, killing 18 and injuring hundreds. Shelley's poem was not published until 1832, when the Reform Act became law. Turner's image may reference the moment when a mysterious light-filled mist awakens thoughts of resistance in the people.
1834 (ca.), J.M.W. Turner, The Fall of Anarchy (?) -- Tate Britain (London)
From the museum label: This unfinished painting shows a skeletal figure on horseback emerging from atmospheric mists. This probably represents Anarchy -- an oppressor of the people -- as imagined in the final episode of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem The Masque of Anarchy. The poem was written in immediate response to the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, which saw the military storm a peaceful reform protest in Manchester, killing 18 and injuring hundreds. Shelley's poem was not published until 1832, when the Reform Act became law. Turner's image may reference the moment when a mysterious light-filled mist awakens thoughts of resistance in the people.