Calais Pier

Another canvas on the street from the National Gallery's current Grand Tour scheme - see http://www.bigartmob.com/view/717/

The full title is: 'Calais Pier, with French Poissards preparing for Sea: an English Packet Arriving' - snappy or what?

By Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 - 1851). The real one's in the National Gallery, London (part of the artist's bequest to the nation of 1856).

The National Gallery describes it thus: "The packet boat is arriving at Calais, full of passengers. The heavy swell and storm clouds dominate the scene. The sun breaks through to touch the sail. The shaft of light from the sun down to the sea forms the centre of the composition."

The painting is based on a real-life event. In 1802 Turner took his first trip abroad via Calais. On a sketch for this picture he noted that the seas had been so rough he was 'nearly swampt'.

The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London in 1803. Like a number of Turner's pictures it was not well received and was thought unfinished in the foreground.