A starter activity for teachers to use with their students

1. JMW Turner Artist and Activist You will see two pictures. For each one, discuss the questions raised and the meaning of the details highlighted.

2. What is going on in this picture? What happened directly before this scene? What will happen afterwards? What does the artist want us to feel? Blue sky breaking through Blood Red, Stormy Sky Fish eating a body Hands, Chains

4. Is the sun setting, or rising? How does this change the message of the picture? The “ Fighting Temeraire ” – a ship which had helped defeat Napoleon at Waterloo 30 years earlier In reality the masts were broken and the ship was rotten. Why has Turner restored it? The steamship in the foreground is towing the Temeraire into dock to be broken up for scrap What part of this picture symbolises the old world? What part of this picture symbolises the new industrial age? What part of the picture makes it difficult to decide if the artist is sad or happy about these changes?