"Renaissance of the Fighting Temeraire" by David Aldus

£9,000.00

 

HIGH PRESTIGE EXHIBITION STANDARD OIL PAINTING "Renaissance of the Fighting Temeraire". BY THE FABULOUS ARTIST DAVID ALDUS.

  Turner's painting shows the 'The Fighting Temeraire' on tow to Rotherhithe for breaking up. Aldus has countermanded Turner's sad theme by adding a bouquet of roses composed of the new David Austin rose entitled 'Rosa, Fighting Temeraire'

he roses' delicate nuances of reds, yellows, peaches and subtle near-whites can easily be perceived in Turner's original painting. Aldus's adaption has kept faithfully to Turner's scene, but has lifted its melancholic mood with the introduction of the bouquet.

The bouquet is intended to convey a full set of sails; while underneath it the heavy cloud of cerise, burnt sienna, and scarlet, forms a wildly impressionistic hull for the resurrected 'Temeraire', keeping faith with Turner's predilection for high drama. A similar sunset can be seen in 'Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus'. Aldus has, of course, used poetic licence in representing the Temeraire escaping from its miserable destiny.

 

A word should be written about this strange cloud of heavy, dark colours that nearly obscure Turner's setting sun. Aldus was coldly informed the colours and the heavy clouds were formed by pollution in the air caused by many factories. Later in life he researched the reason for such phenomenal sunsets - apparently, airborne particles of pollution from microscopic prisms that bend the sun's rays in the same way as raindrops, thus creating the wonderful colours seen in a rainbow. If studied closely, it can be seen that Turner has placed the dark cloud formation above faint geometric forms that would have been the source of pollution industrialised London's satanic mills, vaguely discernible from where he stood. Turner would have witnessed such sunsets as he walked home, and the cloud of pollution, with its surrounding glory, seemed commonplace to him, rebutting modern day criticisms that such a sunset was far-fetched!

This is Turner's lament for the passing of the age of the great sailing ships. The Téméraire was a grand ship who had played a distinguished role in Nelson's victory at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and who now suffered the indignity of being towed away to a ship breaking yard by a modern steam tug bellowing smoke.

The novelist WM Thackeray described the painting as "as grand a painting as ever figured on the walls of any Academy, or came from the easel of any painter. The old Téméraire is dragged to her last home by a little, spiteful, diabolical steamer. A mighty red sun, amidst a host of flaring clouds, sinks to rest on one side of the picture, and illumines a river that seems interminable, and a countless navy that fades away into such a wonderful distance as never was painted before. The little demon of a steamer is belching out a volume … of foul, lurid, red-hot, malignant smoke, paddling furiously, and lashing up the water round about it; while behind it (a cold grey moon looking down on it), slow, sad, and majestic, follows the brave old ship, with death, as it were, written on her"

 

 Highest price received for one of his paintings is £14,000. "Lot's Wife" Absolute investment opportunity!  Measurements height 36 inches by 24 inches.  Oil on Canvas ..............

                        Ref only;Wikipedia; david aldus                        davidaldus.com                        


David Aldus the artist has exhibited with the Royal Society of British Artists (R.B.A); the Royal Institute of Oils (R.O.I) and the Royal Society of Marine Artists (R.S.M.A)  He has been nominated twice as a finalist in the Garrick/Milne prize exhibition held at Christies LONDON. His work has been selected for the Discerning Eye Exhibition by Art Critic, Edward Lucie Smith, where all his work was sold. He also sold all his work at the Lambeth Palace when exhibiting under the auspices of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. Highest price received for one of his paintings is £14,000. "Lot's wife"  see davidaldus.com . This painting was the same size as Turner's Hannibal crossing the Alps 5 foot by 8 foot. David Aldus also sold "A tribute to the people of Malta" that sold for £10,000. The same painting was the subject of a congratulatory letter from Queen Elizabeth II. Lord Lewin, Admiral of the Fleet also sent a letter of congratulations.He has held one or two-man shows at Knightsbridge; South Kensington; Windsor and numerous other venues. He has exhibited in Westminster Central Hall; Royal Festival Hall;Birmingham's Royal British Artists exhibition;Victoria Art Gallery, Bath; Rooksmoor Gallery, Bath; London Guildhall; Mann Island, Liverpool; Christies, the London Auction House, etc. GUARANTEED TO BE 100% ORIGINAL AND GENUINE WITH C.O.A.