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Topics

Warships

  • Summary
A Scottish Warship
Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

A Scottish Warship

unknown artist

Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

Control of the seas was essential to the prosperity, growth and empire-building of Europe’s most powerful nations. The French, Dutch and British in particular developed strong schools of specialist marine artists from the seventeenth century, and almost every seascape includes warships as well as fishing boats.


Sea battles were both militarily important and visually dramatic. The fame of Admiral Lord Nelson and the many paintings of the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar are evidence of the long-lasting appeal of the subject.

Read more
Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire… of 1838, marks the arrival of the age of steam and of armoured warships, which feature in the artistic records of the First and Second World Wars, and in paintings of the Falklands War.

Artworks

  • The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to be Broken Up, 1838
    The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to be Broken Up, 1838 Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) (after)
    Walker Art Gallery
  • Steamer and Lightship; a study for 'The Fighting Temeraire'
    Steamer and Lightship; a study for 'The Fighting Temeraire' Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851)
    Tate Britain
  • The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her Last Berth to be broken up, 1838
    The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her Last Berth to be broken up, 1838 Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851)
    The National Gallery, London
  • Sailing Ship (Man of War)
    Sailing Ship (Man of War) Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) (follower of)
    Williamson Art Gallery & Museum
  • Dragon Ship*
    Dragon Ship* Trevor Murray
    Nottinghamshire County Library Service
  • Thought to be Captain Fortescue (1754–1842)
    Thought to be Captain Fortescue (1754–1842) unknown artist
    Stratford-upon-Avon Town Hall
  • Ships off the Coast
    Ships off the Coast British (English) School
    Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre
  • 401 more

Stories

  • Christopher Wright recounts a visit to Maidstone in 1973

    Christopher Wright

  • Britain's submarines in paintings

    National Museum of the Royal Navy

  • The Battle of Trafalgar and the image of Horatio Nelson

    Avesta-Saule Zardasht

Learning resources

  • ntv-hap-79-001-1.jpg
    Lesson plan
    The First World War in art: 'The Bombardment of the Hartlepools (16 December 1914)'
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
  • shonibare-wanderer-1.jpg
    Lesson plan
    Pattern and identity: Yinka Shonibare's 'The Wanderer'
    • KS3 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)
  • armada-preview-1.jpg
    Audio
    Audio description of 'Elizabeth I (1533–1603)' (the 'Armada Portrait')
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      SEND (ENG)
      ASN (SCO)
      SEND (NI)
      SEND (WAL)
  • NMM_NMMG_ZBA7719-001.jpg
    Lesson plan
    The Superpower of Looking: Queen Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)

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® is a registered trade mark of the Public Catalogue Foundation.
Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (1096185) and Scotland (SC048601).