The Fighting Temeraire

Turner witnessed or learned of the Temeraire's final journey up the Thames to the Rotherhithe breaker's yard in 1838. The ship had fought heroically at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, where it was second in line behind Nelson's Victory. By 1838 it was obsolete and was being broken up for timber and materials. Turner transformed the event into an elegy — showing the great ship as a ghostly white spectre towed by a small, sooty steam tug.

Turner exhibited the painting at the Royal Academy in 1839 to enormous critical acclaim. He refused to sell it during his lifetime, calling it 'my darling.' He died in 1851 and bequeathed it, along with the bulk of his collection, to the British nation. It has been in the National Gallery since 1856.