A view to a kill
In his famed image of Stonehenge, Turner’s celebrated skies have turned as bloodthirsty as the pagans supposedly were. Dominating clouds billow fiery amber against a wet, dark blue above the ancient stones, as a bolt of lightning is thrown from the heavens. The little shepherd on the ground is not dreaming of old Albion; he has been struck dead.
Totally awesome
This is an image that’s hardwired to Romanticism; it recalls William Wordsworth’s description of “night fire mounting to the clouds” and “a sacrificial altar” from his Salisbury Plain series: man is cowed by awesome nature. Created when the artist was at the height of his powers, it’s classically Turner, heavy on expressive atmosphere.
Land and people
It was the basis for what is surely the most arresting print in his series Picturesque Views in England and Wales, where tiny figures earn their crust or make merry, on riverbanks and seashores, in the shadow of spires or on open plains.
Everyday heroes
The print series was a commercial failure but is now considered a major milestone in Turner’s career, lionising “the common man”, as the art historian Andrew Wilton put it.
Part of British Art: Ancient Landscapes, The Salisbury Museum, 8 April to 3 September
