Joseph Mallord William Turner, War. The Exile and the Rock Limpet exhibited 1842
Display caption
This scene, a companion to Peace, hung alongside, shows Napoleon in exile on the island of St Helena. It was painted in the year his ashes were returned to France. The image neither demonises nor heroicises the figure, but suggests the futility of conflict. The isolated uniformed body appears incongruous in its surroundings, while the red palette recalls the trauma of battle. In verses attached to the canvas, Turner refers to the sunset as a ‘sea of blood’.
February 2010
Other works of art you may be interested in
Find similar artworks
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner
(41,861)
Category
Painting
(5,321)
Decade
1840-9
(3,619)
Subject
architecture
(30,435)
townscapes, man-made features
(18,966)
townscape, distant
(8,180)
emotions, concepts and ideas
(7,970)
emotions and human qualities
(1,746)
contemplation
(128)
literature and fiction
(2,343)
nature
(37,449)
animals: fish and aquatic life
(243)
limpet
(2)
natural phenomena
(1,949)
reflection
(590)
seascapes and coasts
(6,839)
coast
(3,628)
times of the day
(1,555)
sunset
(528)
people
(21,186)
portraits: male
(1,463)
Napoleon I, Emperor
(12)
society
(14,246)
crime and punishment
(319)
prisoner
(45)
social comment
(1,563)
war
(196)
symbols & personifications
(4,830)
birth to death
(96)
death - sunset
(4)
work and occupations
(5,206)