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拍品专文
This is one of four watercolours engraved for The Keepsake magazine between 1835 and 1837, this example being engraved by H. Griffiths in 1835 for the following year's publication, whereas the other three were engraved by J. T. Willmore. All four concern the sea and or fire, the others showing A Fire at Sea, engraved 1835 for The Keepsake 1836 (R. 333); The Sea! The Sea! engraved 1836 for The Keepsake, 1837 (R. 335) Destruction of Both Houses of Parliament by Fire, engraved 1835, for The Keepsake, 1836 (R. 332) (Wilton, op. cit., pp. 456-7, nos. 1303, 1305-6, two illustrated).
The Wreck was published with a poem by Edward Howard (circa 1793-1841), a naval novelist, which describes a shipwreck during which, among all the panic, a baby slept soundly throughout and was rescued by a lifeboat at the last minute; the final verse includes the lines:
Gold for the brave! - joy to the rescued crew!
The wreck is left - the deep hath lost its prey.
To the redeeming babe be honour due!
Th'enraptured mother many a future day
Shall, as she wipes the tears of joy away,
How they were saved, relate...
Although less well known today, Turner's vignettes did much to further his contemporary reputation. Volumes illustrated with his work were highly sought after and publishers, aware of their popularity, also sold portfolios of prints from the plates, available in different categories of quality and price for maximum appeal (Fig. 1.)
Such work must have given Turner enormous satisfaction as he believed that painting and poetry were intimately connected. Many of his paintings were exhibited with lines of poetry attached to the title and in his first lecture as Professor of Perspective, at the Royal Academy in January 1811 he stated 'that Painting and Poetry flowing from the same fount...reflect and heighten each other's beauties like...mirrors'. Turner created highly finished and carefully coloured watercolours for the engravers to work from in order to convey the precise tonal information that he wanted to impart through the black and white engravings.
The Wreck was published with a poem by Edward Howard (circa 1793-1841), a naval novelist, which describes a shipwreck during which, among all the panic, a baby slept soundly throughout and was rescued by a lifeboat at the last minute; the final verse includes the lines:
Gold for the brave! - joy to the rescued crew!
The wreck is left - the deep hath lost its prey.
To the redeeming babe be honour due!
Th'enraptured mother many a future day
Shall, as she wipes the tears of joy away,
How they were saved, relate...
Although less well known today, Turner's vignettes did much to further his contemporary reputation. Volumes illustrated with his work were highly sought after and publishers, aware of their popularity, also sold portfolios of prints from the plates, available in different categories of quality and price for maximum appeal (Fig. 1.)
Such work must have given Turner enormous satisfaction as he believed that painting and poetry were intimately connected. Many of his paintings were exhibited with lines of poetry attached to the title and in his first lecture as Professor of Perspective, at the Royal Academy in January 1811 he stated 'that Painting and Poetry flowing from the same fount...reflect and heighten each other's beauties like...mirrors'. Turner created highly finished and carefully coloured watercolours for the engravers to work from in order to convey the precise tonal information that he wanted to impart through the black and white engravings.