J M W
TURNER
Great Britain
1775
–
1851
48.8 (h) x 68.4 (w) cm Tate Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856 Photo: © Tate 2013
A party of English smugglers is shown receiving barrels of illegal gin from French sailors. An operation routinely carried out under the cover of nightfall is exposed by a sunrise which has arrived too early for the miscreants. A boat of the Coast Blockade—initiated in 1816 to combat smuggling—approaches from the right. The men are trying to sink the barrels on ropes for later retrieval. The paired light sources of moon and sun fuse the atmosphere of the painting into an ethereal whole.
A party of English smugglers is shown receiving barrels of illegal gin from French sailors. An operation routinely carried out under the cover of nightfall is exposed by a sunrise which has arrived too early for the miscreants. A boat of the Coast Blockade—initiated in 1816 to combat smuggling—approaches from the right. The men are trying to sink the barrels on ropes for later retrieval. The paired light sources of moon and sun fuse the atmosphere of the painting into an ethereal whole.
A party of English smugglers is shown receiving barrels of illegal gin from French sailors. An operation routinely carried out under the cover of nightfall is exposed by a sunrise which has arrived too early for the miscreants. A boat of the Coast Blockade—initiated in 1816 to combat smuggling—approaches from the right. The men are trying to sink the barrels on ropes for later retrieval. The paired light sources of moon and sun fuse the atmosphere of the painting into an ethereal whole.
