Fighting Temeraire 1899

"Fighting Temeraire" is a print made by Timothy Cole, after J.M.W. Turner’s famous painting depicting the HMS Temeraire, a warship that played a crucial role in the Battle of Trafalgar. The original painting was made during a period of significant social change in England following the Napoleonic Wars. Turner, deeply interested in the sublime and the romantic, captured the ship’s final journey to be broken up, a poignant end to its distinguished service. Cole’s print translates Turner’s dramatic portrayal into a more accessible format, allowing for wider distribution and engagement with themes of memory, loss, and the industrial revolution. The image evokes a sense of nostalgia, but also prompts us to consider the human cost of war and technological advancement, and how the past continues to shape our present. It is a powerful reflection on the passage of time and the shifting tides of history.