J. M. W. Turner visited the remote island of Staffa, off the west coast of Scotland, in 1831 to visit the famous cavern of basalt rock known as Fingal’s Cave. He made the six-mile voyage by steamship and later claimed that a storm erupted during his return to land, recalling a moment when “the sun getting towards the horizon, burst through the raincloud, angry.” Whether an invented memory or not, Turner’s painting represents just such an incident with a steamship battling a storm off Staffa, the feeble light of its engine almost overcome by the sublime forces of nature, a contrast that seems to imply the frailty of human civilization. The painting was well received when it was exhibited in 1832 but remained with the artist until 1845, when it was purchased on behalf of James Lenox, a collector from New York, becoming the first Turner to enter an American collection.
Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2022
Credit Line: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection