- Title:
- Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway
- Object name(s):
- Picture; British
- Brief description:
- A steam engine comes towards us as it crosses the Maidenhead Railway Bridge in the rain. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the bridge was completed in 1838. We are looking east towards London as the train heads to the west. The exaggeratedly abrupt foreshortening of the viaduct, which our eye follows to the horizon, suggests the speed with which the train bursts into view through the rain. Turner lightly brushed in a hare roughly midway along the rail track to represent the speed of the natural world in contrast to the mechanised speed of the engine. The animal is now invisible as the paint has become transparent with age, but it can be seen in an 1859 engraving of the painting.Turner frequently painted scenes of contemporary life and was particularly interested in industry and technology. As he often used new forms of transport, including steam trains, it is unlikely that the painting is a rejection of modernity. Instead, he saw both the train and the bridge as subjects worthy of being painted.
- Collection:
- National Gallery
- Accession date:
- 1856-01-01
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1856
- Date - latest:
- 1856
- Associated concept:
- railways
- Associated concept:
- horses
- Associated concept:
- hares
- Credit line:
- Turner Bequest, 1856
- Current location:
- Room 40
- Current reproduction location:
- 3/198/457/684/mid_N-0538-00-000091.jpg
- Current reproduction location:
- 2/479/37/767/mid_N-0538-00-000022.jpg
- Dimension:
- Height
- Dimension measured part:
- Overall
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 91.00
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measured part:
- Overall
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 121.80
- Form:
- None
- Material:
- oil on canvas
- Material:
- oil
- Material:
- canvas
- Object name:
- Picture; British
- Object production date:
- 1844
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1844
- Date - latest:
- 1844
- Object production date:
- Date - period:
- 1825-49
- Object production person:
- Joseph Mallord William Turner
- Person's birth date:
- 1775
- Person's death date:
- 1851
- Object production place:
- Britain
- Object production place:
- London
- Other number:
- NG538
- Other number type:
- object number
- Other number:
- 0CV2-0001-0000-0000
- Other number type:
- PID
- Other number:
- NG538
- Other number type:
- display number
- Other number:
- 000-019C-0000
- Other number type:
- PID (NG alternative)
- Other number:
- ng2538
- Other number type:
- sort number
- Owner:
- Joseph Mallord William Turner
- Responsible department/section:
- Main Collection
- Right note:
- To encourage the use and reuse of the National Gallery's collection data, they are released under the following dedications and licences: Structured data (as opposed to narrative texts) are released under a Creative Commons Zero dedication (CC0): https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Descriptions, notes and all other narrative text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 licence (CC BY-NC-ND): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
- Style:
- river scenes
- Style:
- realist
- Style:
- Romantic
- Style:
- Victorian
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings
- Reference details:
- 316-25
- Reference note:
- Latest catalogue
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: The British School
- Reference details:
- 152
- Reference note:
- Previous catalogues
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue
- Reference details:
- 680
- Reference note:
- Key bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: The British School
- Reference details:
- 99-100
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Standing in the Sun: A Life of J.M.W. Turner
- Reference details:
- 292, 363-5
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Entfernung der Natur
- Reference details:
- 108
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- J.M.W. Turner 1775-1851
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- History and Description of the Great Western Railway
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, R.A.
- Reference details:
- 256-7
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Paintings and Drawings on the Backs of National Gallery Pictures
- Reference details:
- 152
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Dombey and Son
- Reference details:
- 200
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner's Sketches and Drawings
- Reference details:
- 119
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Colour in Turner: Poetry and Truth
- Reference details:
- 190, 194, 265 n. 163, 269 n. 9-10
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- J.M.W. Turner: 'A Wonderful Range of Mind'
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- History of Romanticism
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner
- Reference details:
- 18, 93
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner: A Life
- Reference details:
- 300
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Stokers and Pokers; or, the London and North-western Railway, the Electric Telegraph, and the Railway Clearing-House
- Reference details:
- 47
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner
- Reference details:
- 119, 168-9, 170, 173, 177, 196-7, 213, 226, 240
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner on the Thames: River Journeys in the Year 1805
- Reference details:
- 156-7
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The World of Turner
- Reference details:
- 171-2
- Reference note:
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- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- England, Wales and Scotland
- Reference details:
- 157
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The National Gallery Companion Guide
- Reference details:
- 326-7
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Inner Life of the Royal Academy
- Reference details:
- 144-5
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner: His Life and Work
- Reference details:
- 201-2
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The British School
- Reference details:
- 316-25
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- History of the Great Western Railway
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Western Railway
- Reference details:
- 68
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner: L'incendie de la peinture
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Turner Gallery
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Brunel and His World
- Reference details:
- 59
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner
- Reference details:
- 197
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- J.M.W. Turner: Romantic Painter of the Industrial Revolution
- Reference details:
- 140-60
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth
- Reference details:
- 3.61-2
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner: The Masterworks
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Victorian Railway
- Reference details:
- 127
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Richmond Papers
- Reference details:
- 55-6
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain:the West Country
- Reference details:
- 1.26-7
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Poetical Works of James Thomson
- Reference details:
- line 401
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Turner Collection in the Clore Gallery: An Illustrated Guide
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Modern Painters
- Reference details:
- 25.598-601
- Reference note:
- Select Bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner in his Time
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, with Biographical Notices of the Painters: British School
- Reference details:
- 103
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- L'astrattismo: Percorso e genesi
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Rain, Steam and What?
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner and the Steam Revolution
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Gautier, Turner and John Martin
- Reference details:
- 393
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Bridge in the Middle Distance: Symbolic Elements in Romantic Landscape
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Time's Railway: Turner and the Great Western
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Imágenes poéticas de lo sublime: Equivalencias visuales de la retórica en la pintura de Turner
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- May Gambols; or, Titmarsh in the Picture Galleries
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Antarctic Sources for Turner's 1846 Whaling Oils
- Reference details:
- 28, 31 n. 45
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner as Professor: The Artist and Linear Perspective
- Reference details:
- 64-5, 67-9
- Reference note:
- Select Bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner and the Scientists
- Reference details:
- 141, 103
- Reference note:
- Select Bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Colour into Line: Turner and the Art of Engraving
- Reference details:
- 79-80
- Reference note:
- Select Bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Royal Jubilee Exhibition
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Fruits of the Spirit: Art from the Heart
- Reference note:
- Additional references
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Landscape into art / Kenneth Clark.
- Reference details:
- Ill. plate 82b
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The railway : art in the age of steam /Ian Kennedy and Julian Treuherz.
- Reference details:
- Illustration. figure. 10 (page. 46)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Great masters of Impressionism : Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and their friends, from the Pola Museum of Art.
- Reference details:
- Ill. fig. 2 (p. 71)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- 1844, ein Jahr in seiner Zeit : Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster, Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, 1. Dezember 1985-2. Februar 1986 /[Ausstellung und Katalog, Siegfried Kessemeier, Wilfried Beer, unter Mitarbeit von Beatrix Althaus, Kirsten Ahrens, Carin Gentner ; Fotos, Rudolf Wakonigg].
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner, the fighting Temeraire / Judy Egerton ; with a technical examination of the painting by Martin Wyld and Ashok Roy.
- Reference details:
- Ill. (p. 102) ; cat. no. 3 (p. 134)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Telling time / Alexander Sturgis.
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Impressionnisme et naissance du cinématographe / sous la direction de Sylvie Ramond ; Richard Brettell [and others].
- Reference details:
- Fig. 26 : p. 264
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Pissarro : creating the impressionist landscape /Katherine Rothkopf ; essay by Christopher Lloyd ; contributions by Gülru Çakmak and Mary Sebera.
- Reference details:
- Ill. p. 120 (Fig. 1)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- J.M.W. Turner : the making of a modern artist /Sam Smiles.
- Reference details:
- Ill. fig. 2.4 (p. 60)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Hogarth to Turner : British painting /written by Louise Govier.
- Reference details:
- Cat. no. 35 (p. 70); ill. (p. 70); ill. fig. 35 (p. 50)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- If the paintings could talk… / Michael Wilson ; with a foreword by Andrew Marr.
- Reference details:
- Ill. (detail) (p. 129); ill. (p. 129)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner inspired : in the light of Claude /Ian Warrell ; with contributions by Philippa Simpson, Alan Crookham, and Nicola Moorby.
- Reference details:
- Ill. fig. 30 (p. 46)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner, Monet, Twombly : later paintings /Jeremy Lewison.
- Reference details:
- Ill. fig. 4 (p. 17)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Da Vermeer a Kandinsky : capolavori dai musei del mondo a Rimini /a cura di Marco Goldin.
- Reference details:
- Ill. (p. 74)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The art of the National Gallery : a critical survey of the schools and painters as represented in the British collection /by Julia de Wolf Addison.
- Reference details:
- Ill. (opp. p. 356)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner and the Elements / catalogue: Inés Richter-Musso and Ortrud Westheider ; with contributions by James Hamilton … [et al.] ; edited by Ortrud Westheider and Michael Philipp.
- Reference details:
- Ill. fig. 13 (p. 71); ill. (detail) fig. 14 (p. 71)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner : malarz żywiołów.
- Reference details:
- Ill. fig. 13 (p. 71); ill. (detail) fig. 14 (p. 71)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Key dates in art history from 600 BC to the present / Roslin Mair.
- Reference details:
- P. 62
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Tengeri csaták : a festoi látásmód Veronese, Turner, ée Kandinszkij muvészetében /[a kiállítást rendezte, Tóth Ferenc ; a katalógus szerkesztette, Tatai Erzsébet ; angol fordítás, Szűcs Marianna] = Sea battles : the view of painting in the art of Veronese, Turner and Kandinsky / [organizer of the exhibition, Tóth Ferenc ; editor, Tatai Erzsébet ; translation, Szűcs Marianna].
- Reference details:
- Ill. fig. 16 (p. 16)
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Turner : l'incendie de la peinture /Olivier Meslay.
- Reference details:
- Ill. : p. 106-107
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Landscape and memory / Simon Schama.
- Reference details:
- Pl. 30
- Reference type:
- reference
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/589431db-04fc-3123-aae9-6e2082dbacfe
Use licence for this record: CC BY
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/589431db-04fc-3123-aae9-6e2082dbacfe, National Gallery, CC BY
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