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'The Wreck Buoy', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Zoom into the detail of this painting
The art critic John Ruskin, a great admirer of Turner, described this as ‘the last oil he painted before his noble hand forgot its cunning’. It is a re-working of an earlier picture and a summation of Turner’s concern with the sea. The artist’s pessimistic view of human endeavour and the fallacy of hope is symbolised by the rainbow and the wreck buoy beneath it.
Artwork Details
Medium and Support: Oil on canvas
Date:1849
Accession No: WAG 310