Oil Paintings Reproductions

About The Artist - J.M.W Turner (23 April 1775 - 19 December 1851)

Joseph Mallord William Turner or J.M.W Turner was a British Romantic landscape painter, master of water colors and printmaker.

About The Painting - Eruption of Vesuvius

Joseph Mallord William Turner's style is believed to have laid the foundation for the art movement, we now know as Impressionism. A master at painting landscapes, Turner elevated landscape art to an eminence that rivals history painting.

Eruption of Vesuvius is a striking painting depicting the erupting volcanic mountain, Vesuvius. His chromatic palette and "broadly applied atmospheric washes of paint" are wonderfully brilliant in their technique and quality of image created.

The acclaimed English art critic John Ruskin has described Turner as an artist who could most "stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of Nature." Known for his paintings of shipwrecks, fires, natural phenomena like storm, rain, fog and sunlight, and natural catastrophes such as Eruption of Vesuvius, Turner was fascinated by the power of these elements.

The, almost, monochromatic palette of Eruption of Vesuvius dramatically and convincingly conveys the fury of the lava as it erupts from the mouth of the mountain and seeks freedom into the atmosphere lighting up the sky with its power! The reflection of this catastrophe in the waters is brilliantly captured by the artist. Humans fleeing away from the site of destruction indicate the helplessness of humanity in front of nature's might but also indicate Turner's affection for humanity.

However Turner's humans are also vulnerable and vulgar amidst the sublime nature. Sublime here quite literally means awe-inspiring, powerful, savage, untamable and a metaphor for God's power. Turner gave a lot of emphasis to light in his paintings. For him, light signified the emanation of the spirit of God and much of his later work displays light on water (Eruption of Vesuvius), radiance of fires and skies and appear to be impressionistic in nature and theme.

Turner's distinctive style of painting was a product of his use techniques of watercolor with oil paints. The result was a fluid, fluent, light and ephemeral sky, brilliant atmosphere and a disturbing effect on the viewer.

Interestingly, Turner's best known painting, The Fighting Temeraire, has been voted the greatest painting ever in a British art gallery in the year 2005.