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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:
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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
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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:
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Reference type:
reference
User's reference:
The Inner Life of the Royal Academy
Reference details:
144-5
Reference note:
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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:
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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:
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Reference type:
reference
User's reference:
Turner and the Scientists
Reference details:
141, 103
Reference note:
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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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