J. M. W. Turner’s Influence on Edward Moran

Edward Moran illustrates nature’s fury in his 1862 painting, Shipwreck (fig. 1). As the

title implies, the scene depicts two ships struggling to stay afloat as they approach the coast. Tall,

churning waves threaten to overturn them, while dark clouds menace overhead. The clouds are

highly dramatized, and are reflected in the colors of the water. They remain dark directly above

the two ships, and their swirling movement mirrors that of the waves. Most of the passengers

from the ship closest to the viewer have escaped and are making their way up the shoreline.

Those still on board cling to the side of the ship as it tosses in the waves. The dramatic scene is

very similar to a number of paintings by Joseph Mallord William Turner, one of Britain’s most

famous painters. Turner was known for his seascapes, many of which depicted shipwrecks. A

comparison of Moran’s Shipwreck with several of Turner’s marine paintings shows noticeable

similarities in style, composition and color. In this essay, I will argue that Turner’s paintings had

a significant influence on Moran’s artwork. Shipwreck bears a considerable likeness to three of

Turner’s marine paintings: The Shipwreck (1805), Wreck of a Transport Ship (1810), and A

Storm (Shipwreck) (1823). Moran’s choice of style and subject matter throughout his career are

noticeably similar to Turner’s.

As art historian Roger B. Stein explains, painters have used seascapes to define the

American experience since colonial times. The sea has played an important role in American

history. It served not only as a barrier between Europe and the New World, but also as a source

of food, a means of transportation, mode of income, and at times a battlefield. At first, artists

focused primarily on recording the tranquility of American scenery. However, by the nineteenth

century, their depictions became more imaginative.1

1 Roger B. Stein, Seascape and the American Imagination (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art Press, 1975), 1.

As landscaped artists defined the American sublime through glorified illustrations of

Niagara Falls and the Catskill Mountains, seascape painters began a similar quest. Rather than

using marine paintings to symbolize nationalism and independence, artists began to explore the

sea’s sublimity. To do so, they drew from international influences, especially Dutch seventeenth-

century artists and Turner. In many of these works, the power of nature asserts its supremacy

over man. Artists accentuated nature’s immensity by using a horizontal format. This emphasizes

the panoramic, and encourages the viewer’s eye to travel across the scene, rather than settle on a

distant vanishing point.2 Such scenes often depict shipwrecks, demonstrating the weakness of

human will at the hands of the universe. The ships and their occupants struggle to stay alive as

they are swallowed up by waves, foam and sky.3

Marine painting was also popular in Europe during this time, especially with Turner’s

influence. Known as one of Britain’s greatest painters, Turner made noteworthy contributions to

this genre, although his style changed dramatically throughout the course of his career. His

seascapes often explore the effects of light and color on water. Many of his marine paintings are

of a darker nature, and depict disastrous shipwrecks in action.4

Moran was fascinated with Turner’s work, and travelled to England with his brother

Thomas to view his paintings, sketches, and watercolors firsthand. He was struck by the bold,

broad streaks of color and glowing skies of Turner’s seascapes. He later returned home to the

United States to continue his painting career. From this point on, Turner’s influence can be seen

in Moran’s paintings.5

2 Ibid, 35.3 Ibid, 37.4 Sam Smiles, The Turner Book (London: Tate Publishing, 2006), 7.5 Nancy Seigel, The Morans: The Artistry of a Nineteenth-Century Family of Painter-Etchers (Huntingdon: Juniata College Press, 2001), 14.

Moran’s Shipwreck bears a considerable resemblance to Turner’s 1805 painting, The

Shipwreck (fig. 2). Like Moran’s painting, Turner’s painting depicts a storm at sea. Huge, dark

waves with white sea spray toss a group of helpless boats in different directions. The boats’

occupants cling to each other and to the sides of their vessels, in an attempt to survive. Dark

clouds roll overhead, adding to the painting’s ominous mood. Like Moran’s painting, Turner’s

image represents the desperation and destruction of man at the hands of nature.

Analysis of these paintings provides evidence that Moran took inspiration from Turner’s

seascapes. In addition to their subject matter, each has noticeable similarities in composition and

color. Both paintings have a horizontal composition that draws the viewer’s eye around the

painting. Neither one has a specific point of focus; rather, each painting shows several things

taking place. The dynamic scenes engage the viewer in active participation by encouraging him

or her to analyze each element. Both paintings contain figures struggling for safety, and in both

cases, the figures are small and not individualized. The composition is broken into top and

bottom sections, with roughly the same amount of space allotted for each half. Storm clouds

dominate the top of each painting, while the ocean occupies the bottom. Moran describes the

importance of painting on a cloudy day in his 1888 article “Marine Painting” in The Art

Amateur, stating, “As I recommend all students to choose cloudy or overcast days to begin with,

the first palate I would put into their hands would be one disposed for gray only.”6 Doing so

creates depth and adds a dynamic quality to the painting.

In addition to his use of dark tones for clouds, Moran emulates Turner’s color choices, as

well. Like Turner, he emphasizes the ocean’s fury by contrasting dark blues and greens with

white patches of sea spray, giving the water more movement and dimensionality. The skies

6 Edward Moran, “Marine Painting,” The Art Amateur 19, no. 6 (Nov. 1888): 127.

contain dark blue and grey clouds, although Turner’s are slightly darker than Moran’s. Both

artists also use shades of brown and orange for the ships and the shadows of the waves.

Another Turner painting with similarities to Moran’s Shipwreck is The Wreck of a Transport

Ship (fig. 3). Another shipwreck painting, it carries the same theme of nature’s violence and

destructive power. Here, the figures on the top left side are even less distinct than those in

Turner’s The Shipwreck. Huddled in groups, they blend together and fade into each other’s

shadows. Moran uses a similar technique in Shipwreck for the small figures who have made it up

the shoreline, making it difficult to distinguish one from another. This practice of blending

objects that recede into the background can be seen in many of Turner’s paintings.

A third seascape that bears a significant resemblance to Moran’s Shipwreck is Turner’s

1823 painting A Storm (Shipwreck) (fig. 4). Eric Shanes, author of The Life and Masterworks of

J. M. W. Turner, describes the painting’s fury:

This is undoubtedly the most ferocious seascape Turner ever created in watercolour and it is difficult to believe that anyone could survive such a

maelstrom. The plunging surges of the sea, the berserk fury of the sky, the brilliant colouring and dynamic linearity all communicate a world

gone mad with energy.7

With such a passionate response from critics and the public, it is understandable that Moran

might want to emulate Turner’s methods. His efforts to create an equally “ferocious” seascape

can be seen in Shipwreck. In both A Storm, and Shipwreck, waves fill the entire bottom half of

the composition. Because of this, the viewer watches the scene from an ambiguous space above

the water. By not giving the viewer any solid ground to stand on, both artists intensify the sense

of danger in their paintings.

7 Eric Shanes, The Life and Masterworks of J. M. W. Turner (New York: Parkstone Press, 2008), 158.

One other similarity exists between the three Turner paintings and Moran’s Shipwreck. In

all three of Turner’s paintings, either the waves or the light source in the background seem to be

directing movement toward the left. The ships are directed to the left in Moran’s painting, as

well. The figures escaping the shipwreck help each other up the shore, and the ships seem to be

following them. In viewing so many of Turner’s paintings, Moran may have noticed this

element. His decision to compose his painting this way could have been a reference to Turner.

Turner’s influence is also evident in other Moran paintings. In Sailboats at Sunset (1870),

(fig. 5) another marine landscape, Moran shows an interest in the properties of light and water

reflection, with their relationship to color. Although the silhouetted ship is at the center of the

painting, the pastel colors of the sky and water are the main focus. Like Turner, Moran is mainly

concerned with the depiction of light and air. Art historian Nancy Siegel describes the

similarities between the two artists’ styles:

The soft, muted yellows and orange of the late day sky feel almost tangible in this scene and the reflection of light cast upon the still, calm sea reflects Edward’s

admiration for J.M.W. Turner’s style. Sailboats at Sunset typifies in many ways the style and ability of Edward Moran as found in the numerous paintings that resulted from his sketching tours along the eastern shores of the United States.8

This style bears a resemblance to many of Turner’s seascapes. One in particular is The Fighting

‘Temeraire,’ Tugged to her last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838 (fig. 6). The painting is often

associated with the power of new technology in the “modern world” of the 1800s. It features an

old battleship being towed across the Thames as the sun sets behind it.9 A comparison between

Temeraire and Sailboats at Sunset shows noticeable similarities. Like Turner, Moran uses light

as the main element in his painting. In both paintings, the sun sets on the horizon before wispy

8 Nancy Seigel, The Morans: The Artistry of a Nineteenth-Century Family of Painter-Etchers (Huntingdon: Juniata College Press, 2001), 17.9 Smiles, 145.

clouds that reflect its light. The sky fades from yellow at the top to bluish-purple on the horizon

line. The ambiguous space below the horizon line becomes blurry, as the colors and objects

blend together. Neither artist paints the water blue, the color it is traditionally associated with.

Instead, the light from the setting sun provides the ocean’s color. The viewer’s eye is drawn to

the sun, whose radiance is reflected as a blurry line in the water. Mastering the sun’s reflection in

water was important to Turner. In an explanation of his technique, he explains that “reflections

not only appear darker but longer than the object which occasions them, and if the ripple or the

hollow of the wave is long enough to make an angle with the eye it is on these undulating lines

that the object reflects.”10 In Sailboats at Sunset, Moran seems to be emulating his technique; the

sun’s yellow glow is reflected in a line on the water as it passes over the slight waves.

In Moran’s painting, the boats in the foreground are silhouetted against the sun’s

radiance. By doing this, he puts even more emphasis on his use of light. The viewer is not

distracted by elements in the foreground. Rather, he or she focuses primarily on the sun, sky and

water that harmoniously reflect each other’s colors. In “Marine Painting,” Edward Moran

describes his technique:

Under certain effects of sunrise and sunset … and for luminous skies and clouds … it is desirable to add cadmium and light cadmium, vermillion and rose madder

to the simple palette I have given. … they also enable the painter to denote the contrast between the brilliant sky colors of sundown or sunrise and heavier reds and yellows which may occur as local color in the foreground.11

The viewer can see this technique in Sailboats at Sunset. This procedure yields results that are

similar to the luminous quality of Turner’s seascapes. Like Turner, Moran’s sunset painting

focuses more on the quality and color of light than the ships in the water.

10 Turner, as quoted in Smiles, 184.11 Moran, “Marine Painting:” 127.

Turner spent part of his career painting historical subjects. As history painting became

less popular, he began using his paintings to describe recent events. The Shipwreck, for example,

was created to commemorate the tragic sinking of the Abergavenny. Other marine paintings

contained didactic messages. A Disaster at Sea (1835), (fig. 7) for example, records the loss of

the convict ship Amphititre at the hands of a greedy, pretentious captain.12

Toward the end of his life, Moran took on a similar project of recording modern history.

He painted a nationalistic series, Thirteen Historical Marine Paintings, to illustrate the nautical

history of the United States. Unlike Turner’s paintings however, Moran’s series was not well-

received. The paintings were eventually donated to the United States Naval Academy. Moran’s

attempt to gain recognition as a history painter might have been an attempt to emulate Turner.

His efforts, however, were unsuccessful (Siegel, par. 3). CITATION?? 13

Moran emphasizes his fondness for Turner in his article “Marine Painting.” When

describing how to paint waves, he states:

Much of what falls into the marine painter’s peculiar province is evanescent to a degree which makes careful study directly from nature impossible. Wave forms

are even more fleeting than cloud forms, and harder to seize. Nevertheless, one does not require the extraordinary memory and insight of a Turner to succeed passable well in reproducing them.14

By praising Turner in his instruction article, Moran expresses his desire to tap into Turner’s

creative genius. This evidence – along with the similarities between the two artists’ paintings –

show that Moran drew from Turner’s seascapes to create his own. Moran chose a reputable artist

to imitate, and in doing so created a powerful work of art. Although he did not gain the

popularity that Turner did, his completion of Shipwreck was a respectable contribution to

nineteenth-centurty marine art.

12 Smiles, 120.13 Nancy Siegel, "Edward Moran," Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, par. 3.14 Moran, “Marine Painting:” 127.

Fig. 1 – Edward Moran, Shipwreck, 1862 Fig. 2 – J. M. W. Turner, The Shipwreck, 1805

Fig. 4 – J. M. W. Turner, A Storm (Shipwreck), 1823

Fig. 3 – J. M. W. Turner, Wreck of a Transport

Ship,1810

Fig. 5 – Edward Moran, Sailboats at Sunset, 1870 Fig. 6 – J. M. W. Turner, The Fighting ‘Temeraire,’ Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838

Fig. 7 – J. M. W. Turner, A Disaster at Sea, 1835

Works Cited

Smiles, Sam. The Turner Book. London: Tate, 2006.

Solkin, David. Turner and the Masters. London: Tate, 2009.

Stein, Roger B. Seascape and the American Imagination. New York: Whitney Museum of

American Art, 1975.

Shanes, Eric. The Life and Masterworks of J. M. W. Turner. New York: Parkstone, 2008.

Moran, Edward. “Marine Painting” The Art Amateur 19, no. 6. (Nov. 1888): 127.

<http://search.proquest.com/docview/124481897/12EEF50F3F73EA5F35A/1?

accountid=14214>

Siegel, Nancy. The Morans: The Artistry of a Nineteenth-Century Family of Painter-Etchers.

Huntingdon: Juniata College, 2001.

Siegel, Nancy. "Edward Moran." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 25 Apr. 2011

<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T2090530>.