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    Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight

    Joseph Mallord William Turner

    The keelmen who are employed on the river Tyne are a remarkably hardy, robust, and laborious class of men, and are distinguished for their great muscular strength.... Their employment requires uncommon exertions. They have to contend, in their strong, clumsy vessels, with the perils of violent gales, dark nights, freshes in the river, and a crowded harbour.

    Eneas Mackenzie, An Historical, Topographical, and Descriptive View of the County of Northumberland

    The River Tyne winds across northeast England to the North Sea, passing through the city of Newcastle, just a few miles from the river’s mouth. The site of vast coal mines, as well as the manufacture of glass and iron, Newcastle was at the fulcrum of the Industrial Revolution by the turn of the 19th century. Pictured here is the River Tyne at Shields, a town downriver from Newcastle proper. Coal mined nearby was loaded at Shields onto small flat-bottomed vessels called keels. The keels were navigated across the shallow river and under the low Tyneside bridge, their cargo transferred onto large ocean-going ships waiting in the harbor. The most frequent destination was London, the main consumer of coal from Newcastle.

    Claude Lorrain, Harbor Scene with Rising Sun (Le soleil levant), 1634, etching, Gift of R. Horace Gallatin, 1949.1.22

    The belching smokestacks and effluents of industry transformed the marine and land vistas of England. Work, too, was transformed as laborers toiled in continuous shifts to meet the demands of a growing economy and population for fuel and other raw material. The changes wrought in English life by industrialism intrigued Turner and captured his imagination. Yet, the effects of nature equally enthralled the artist.

    Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight captures and juxtaposes these two themes. The moon’s iridescent, nocturnal glow and a sense of calm pervade the painting as you imagine water slapping rhythmically against the buoys in the foreground and paddles propelling the rowboat quietly across the harbor. By contrast, teams of workers servicing the thicket of boats anchored in the harbor bustle under fiery braziers and a cloud of soot at the painting’s edges, suggesting an even more extensive landscape of industry that continues just out of view. In the far background, flaming smokestacks are visible and the pollutants they emitted may have contributed to the refracted, shimmering quality of the light in the painting. Turner mingles the imperatives of industry with the enduring and sometimes inexpressible values of nature.

    About the Artist

    Joseph Mallord William Turner

    John Linnel, Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1838. © National Portrait Gallery, London.

    Turner was a groundbreaking figure in setting the foundation of modern painting, anticipating impressionism and even abstract art with his interest in direct observation, light effects, and capturing aspects of contemporary life. Yet he also actively sought the approval of his peers and the public, mainly through the auspices of the Royal Academy of Art. This duality characterized much of his career. One writer (William Henry Pyne) noted in 1833, “A person cannot be a half admirer of Turner; his genius admits of no gradation of favor; universal, or not at all, must be the person’s admiration.”

    Supported by his father, a barber and wigmaker, Turner enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art at age 14. From early on, he was devoted to landscape painting and drew inspiration from earlier, 17th-century Dutch and French landscape painters while seeking to innovate a new approach and elevate the status of landscape painting. He worked extensively in watercolor, uncommon at a time when oil paint was the most esteemed medium, and handled it with virtuosic skill. Eventually, he opened his own private gallery in London, where he could experiment and exhibit groupings of his work and promote his singular vision as he pleased. His work included dramatic marine and history paintings, and often reflected his interest in capturing the sublimity—or awesome and sometimes fearsome aspects—of nature.

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    J.M.W. Turner. Published in conjunction with the exhibition J.M.W. Turner shown at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, The Dallas Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2008.

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    We hover over a flax-yellow body of water lined with ships to our left and right, which are silhouetted against a moonlit, cloud-veiled sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition. The moon hangs to our left of center in the sky, its light reflecting on the clouds in a bright, hourglass shape to create a tunnel-like effect. The sea below turns from a gold color close to us to pale blue along the horizon. To our left, one ship with gray sails is cut off by the edge of the canvas and another, also with gray sails, is situated farther from us. A small, dark rowboat with two passengers moves between them. Light from the windows in buildings along the distant horizon to our left reflect in the water, and another building, a factory, spouts white flame from its chimney. More dark ships line the waterway to our right, their spiky masts black against the sky. Three flames, one orange between two pale yellow fires, flare in the darkness in front of the ship closest to us. The forms of men shoveling coal, crates, and barges are dark silhouettes against the firelight and smoke. More rowboats float among the boats in the distance. Near the lower right corner of the canvas, a broad, flat fragment of wood floats close to us. The hot orange and black on the right side of the painting contrasts with the silvery gray, light blue, and white that fills much of the rest of the composition. The painting was created with thick, blended brushstrokes throughout, giving the scene a hazy look. The texture of some of the brushstrokes is especially noticeable, as where the moon casts white light onto the water and in the clouds. The artist signed a buoy floating to our left with his initials, “JMWT.”

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight, 1835, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.86

    Turner’s high ambitions were ill-matched with his general demeanor. Considered by many uncouth in his way of speaking, unsophisticated in appearance, and inattentive to the social refinements of the day, these deficits probably prevented him from achieving his ultimate goal, to become president of the Royal Academy, a prestigious position that, much like today’s high academic posts, required social dexterity and connections.

    Regardless, Turner enjoyed the admiration of his peers and ultimately, numerous art patrons. The artist was named a full Royal Academician in 1802, the youngest to be so honored. His loose and romantic style coincided with the British rejection of the highly polished, classicized French styles of painting that had dominated European tastes in the previous century. The success he so prized was his, and on his death in 1851, he was honored by the British government and people and interred in St. Paul’s Cathedral.  The Turner Bequest, consisting of hundreds of paintings and drawings, is now housed at Tate Britain and the National Gallery, London.

     

     

    More works by Joseph Mallord William Turner

    Through a golden haze and across an expanse of gently rippling water dotted with boats, ghostly ivory and parchment-white buildings rise along a distant shore in this loosely painted horizontal landscape. The misty horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition, and the sky above is mostly butter yellow with a few touches of shell pink, and a patch of topaz blue in the upper left corner. Closest to us, in the lower right corner, several honey-yellow boats are pulled up to a parchment-white dock. Touches of charcoal gray, peacock green, ruby red, and mauve pink suggest cloth or other objects filling the boats and piled on the corner of the dock. A few strokes of white, blush pink, and brick red suggest several people beyond a low wall or other structure to our right. Farther back and to our left, streaks and swipes of coral red, pale yellow, and gold suggest boats along a dock. Along the horizon, in the distance opposite us, there is a golden-yellow building with a tower on its front façade. Beyond this building, a cream-white structure with two tall domes rises against the sky. Along the horizon to either side, blended smudges of lilac purple, rose pink, and aquamarine blue suggest more buildings and boats. The buildings and boats are reflected in the loosely painted, straw-yellow water. The artist signed the painting as if he had written his initials on the wall near the lower right corner, “JMWT.”
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, 1843

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, 1843, oil on canvas, Given in memory of Governor Alvan T. Fuller by The Fuller Foundation, Inc., 1961.2.3
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Packet Boat off Dover, c. 1836

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Packet Boat off Dover, c. 1836, watercolor and gouache with touches of black chalk on gray wove paper, laid down, Paul Mellon Collection, 1986.72.18
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Waterfall, 1795/1796

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Waterfall, 1795/1796, graphite with blue and gray wash, laid down on old album sheet, Purchased as the Gift of Dian Woodner, 2009.40.1
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Yorkshire River, c. 1827

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Yorkshire River, c. 1827, watercolor on wove paper, Paul Mellon Collection, 1986.72.19
    We look down onto a grass-topped promontory that gives way to a vast, hazy river valley in this horizontal watercolor. A dozen men, women, children, and babies rest in small groups or work near grapevines to our right on the promontory. They all have pale, peachy skin and wear garments in off white, royal blue, pink, beige, or gray. Rakes, barrels, cloth, and other equipment are piled to our left. The land dips steeply down beyond the pile to a slender, tall white tower. Opposite it, to our right, a grove of tall, spindly trees partially hides a brown stone, crenelated tower. The land drops steeply down from there to a deep, wide river valley. Flanking the waterway, mounded hills mottled with harvest yellow, laurel green, and pinkish-beige lighten to icy blue in the distance. Buildings tucked among the hills and ships on the river are suggested with indistinct strokes or scratches on the paper, and a few tufts of smoke rising from chimneys or smokestacks. The horizon comes two thirds of the way up the composition. A white glow across the center of the sky deepens to lapis blue at the edges. The artist signed and dated the lower right corner, “JMWT 1840.”
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Oberwesel, 1840

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Oberwesel, 1840, watercolor and gouache over graphite with scratching-out, Paul Mellon Fund, 2007.77.1
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Tewkesbury Abbey, date unknown

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Tewkesbury Abbey, graphite, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.8200
    Butter-yellow clouds and water, a periwinkle-blue sky, and pale plum-purple buildings blend in hazy, indistinct bands across this horizontal landscape painting. The paint is thickly applied in some areas, especially along the top of the sky, and the scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout. The blurry horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition and the small, round, white sun shines low in the sky to our left. The sky or clouds around the sun are painted with shades of pale sapphire-blue with touches of lavender, which give way to a lemon-yellow clouds or haze in the right two-thirds of the sky. Buildings along the horizon, deep in the distance across the right three-quarters of the canvas, are loosely painted with vertical swipes of heather pink and cream white. The water, closest to us, reflects the yellow of the sky with additional touches of celery green. Brown boats spaced along the harbor carry people and objects away from us, toward the town.
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Approach to Venice, 1844

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Approach to Venice, 1844, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.110
    Painted in golden tones of butter and harvest yellow, tawny brown, and olive green, this horizontal landscape painting has a low wall stretching diagonally from the lower right corner off to our left, dividing a river to our right from a grassy lawn to our left. The waist-high wall is lined with tall trees with high canopies, which fill most of the composition. Close to us, at the lower center of the painting, a hoop rests against the end of a second, low wall. A short ladder with four rungs leans against a tree trunk in the lower left corner. Only a sliver of the ivy-covered trunk rises along the left edge of the painting. A short distance away, two chairs near a small, square-topped wooden table sit on the grass under the long shadows of the tall trees. Two or three people, seeming to wear long skirts, stand or sit on the long wall that spans the width of the painting, behind a nearby tree trunk. A navy-blue garment lies over the wall to our right, and a black dog walks on the wall near the center of the painting, beyond the people. Barely visible, a small white dog stands with its front paws on the wall next to the black dog. A pathway alongside the trees and wall leads to a covered structure with a triangular pediment roof held up by fluted columns in the distance. Several long, low barges filled with people float in the river to our right. Red and white flags flutter in the breeze and the full, rectangular sails of a couple of the boats are raised. The placid surface of the river is thickly painted, especially where the small disk of the pale yellow sun reflects on the golden surface of the water below. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition and is lined in the deep distance with a band of loosely painted, muted, mauve-pink buildings and trees.
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Mortlake Terrace, 1827

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Mortlake Terrace, 1827, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.109
    A passenger boat, its bright tan sails reflecting the sun, careens among choppy water with at least eight more sailboats and a town along the water’s edge in the distance in this horizontal landscape painting. The water closest to us is muted slate blue, and it lightens as it extends to the horizon, which comes less than a quarter of the way up this composition. We look onto the long side of the passenger boat, at nine men, women, and children huddled in two groups there, in the lower center of the composition. The people wear black, white, red, or blue, and all seem to wear hats, though they are sketchily painted. Foamy, white crests lap at the long side of the tilted boat. Several larger ships with white sails unfurled float beyond to our left. To our right, seven flags and banners fly from a three-masted ship with its sails tied up. Two rows of more than a dozen black canons each poke through doors along the side we can see. It floats upright, closer to the distant town lining the water across the right half of the picture. The buildings are painted with strokes of white paint to create loose silhouettes. Loosely painted vertical strokes suggest more boats and ships lining the harbor. A bank of cream-white and some pale gray clouds fill most of the sky, breaking to reveal blue sky only in the upper right corner of the painting.
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Rotterdam Ferry-Boat, 1833

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, Rotterdam Ferry-Boat, 1833, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.135
    A butter-yellow sky fills the top two-thirds of this square landscape painting while in the bottom third, a brown structure is surrounded by golden yellow and pine-green forms like clouds. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes, so much of the detail is indistinct, and the view seems hazy. Clouds spiral around the sun or moon, painted as a pale yellow disk, hanging in the center of the sky. The golden yellow clouds near the center darken to slate gray then rust brown, and nearly wine red along the top edge. A flock of birds painted as a dense band of navy and denim-blue Vs curve around the sun and continue into the deep distance. Below, touches of burgundy red and brown could indicate people or animals around the arched, copper-brown structure. Cloud-like puffs in forest green and golden yellow could be a forest or wildly crashing waves. A few faint outlines in this area suggest a bear, crocodile, giraffe, and maybe other ghostly creatures.
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Evening of the Deluge, c. 1843

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Evening of the Deluge, c. 1843, oil on canvas, Timken Collection, 1960.6.40
    We look across churning waves at four sailing ships and a wooden rowboat with four men aboard in this horizontal painting. Dark, iron-gray and tawny-brown clouds approaching from the right fill the top two-thirds of the composition. The water closest to us roils with steel gray and tan, which deepens to charcoal gray as it recedes toward low hills in the distant background. In the lower left corner of the painting, a wooden container bobs in the waves, and a white bird flies low over the water nearby. Two ships to the left of center head directly toward us, leaning steeply to our left with their beige sails taut with wind. Two men, tiny in scale, stand on the deck of the ship to our left. To our right, two ships with butter-yellow and peach sails cut through the water. Three men stand on the deck of the ship in the front, pulling on the rigging. Closest to us and to the right of center, the rowboat crests a wave, tilting forward so we look into the long side of the boat and see the four men there. Near the stern, one man hangs over the side while another holds onto him. Two men sit to the right, one facing us while the other faces away. Sunlight streaks down through a break in the storm clouds to fall on a ship with furled sails in the distance at the center of the composition. This and two additional ships near the distant shoreline are silhouetted against bands of white clouds around blue sky, beyond the bank of dark gray clouds closer to us.
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Junction of the Thames and the Medway, 1807

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Junction of the Thames and the Medway, 1807, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.87
    About a dozen people, tiny in scale, flail their arms or huddle in small groups in a vast, mountainous landscape in this gold-toned, horizontal painting. A grassy expanse stretches across the bottom edge the canvas into the middle distance, where it meets steep hills separated by deep valleys. White water, falls or rivers, separate some of the mounds. Two tall branches of a sparse, V-shaped tree cut into the sky to our right. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and the landscape and people are painted loosely so details are difficult to make out. The people cluster in two groups in the landscape, which is painted with tones of eucalyptus and laurel green. To our left, a person runs from what appears to be a fire-lined opening in the ground. A basket, a set of pan pipes, perhaps a cloak, and maybe some tools are gathered near the tree to our right. A walled building complex high on a flat hilltop in the distance is warmed to peanut brown by the setting sun. A blanket of dark buttercup-yellow and rust-orange clouds mostly hides an icy blue sky.
    Works by J. M. W. Turner In the National Gallery of Art collection

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Rape of Proserpine, 1839

    Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Rape of Proserpine, 1839, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. Watson B. Dickerman, 1951.18.1

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