[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.56,0:00:09.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tell them all.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.09,0:00:14.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,May 1840.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.78,0:00:16.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The annual exhibition
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.27,0:00:18.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Royal Academy in London
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.73,0:00:20.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has been a great success.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.90,0:00:28.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On display,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.19,0:00:29.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all the reviewers agree
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.96,0:00:32.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is one indisputable masterpiece.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.81,0:00:35.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Painted by Edwin Landseer,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.32,0:00:38.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s called Laying Down the Law.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.91,0:00:40.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it features,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.46,0:00:42.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the learned judge,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.34,0:00:43.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a poodle.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.25,0:00:47.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is, the critics chorus, perfect.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.59,0:00:49.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perfect in execution,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.30,0:00:51.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,taste and refinement.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.80,0:00:55.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there’s another painting
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.79,0:00:58.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hanging in the 1840 show about which
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.70,0:01:01.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the critics also absolutely unanimous
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.84,0:01:04.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in dismay and scorn.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.44,0:01:10.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JMW Turner’s Slave Ship.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.08,0:01:14.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How is it that we can see a masterpiece,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.02,0:01:16.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while the critics compared it to
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.98,0:01:18.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a kitchen accident
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.61,0:01:21.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or the contents of a spittoon?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.84,0:01:25.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Had Turner gone over the top
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.19,0:01:29.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with this voyage into a sweaty nightmare,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.47,0:01:33.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this fantastical image of slaves
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.28,0:01:36.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cruelly murdered at sea?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.99,0:01:39.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why had a work Turner had hoped
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.56,0:01:42.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would make people weep,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.09,0:01:44.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,instead move them to describe it
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.87,0:01:48.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a detestable absurdity?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.87,0:01:52.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What was it about
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.71,0:01:54.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this particular painting,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.28,0:01:56.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the consummation of Turner’s career
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.53,0:01:59.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that brought down on his head,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.17,0:02:01.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,such a storm of abuse?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.12,0:02:37.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We all think we know Turner,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.98,0:02:39.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,didn’t we?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.96,0:02:42.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He seems as comfortably British
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.12,0:02:43.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a cup of tea.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.46,0:02:59.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He is, after all,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.52,0:03:02.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the National Gallery’s all-time favourite.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.93,0:03:12.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there was another Turner.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.95,0:03:14.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Turner you don’t know.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.65,0:03:16.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The painter of chaos,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.54,0:03:18.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,conflagration and apocalypse,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.89,0:03:20.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wild and ambitious paintings,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.87,0:03:22.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that one critic called
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.57,0:03:24.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“a picture of nothing,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.25,0:03:25.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and very like”.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.08,0:03:28.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well this is my Turner,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.88,0:03:30.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,extreme Turner.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.41,0:03:32.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Cockney poet
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.10,0:03:34.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just short of madness.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.81,0:03:37.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Turner we ought to know,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.06,0:03:39.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Turner we really ought to revere.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.78,0:03:55.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This Turner was on a delirious
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.06,0:03:57.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and visionary trip that would culminate
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.66,0:04:00.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the greatest British painting
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.32,0:04:02.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the 19-century,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.05,0:04:04.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Slave Ship.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.46,0:04:41.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,40 years before
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.36,0:04:43.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the heroic fiasco of The Slave Ship,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.47,0:04:46.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the young Turner could do no wrong.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:46.63,0:04:48.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In his twenties,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.15,0:04:50.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the barber’s son had already been tipped
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.64,0:04:53.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the next great thing in British painting.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:01.59,0:05:03.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With the dab of his brush,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.84,0:05:06.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he could wave fairy dust
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.15,0:05:08.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over the genteel British countryside.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.38,0:05:11.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it would turn into a place
Dialogue: 0,0:05:11.89,0:05:14.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of sublime enchantment.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:24.12,0:05:26.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the quality ate it up.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.65,0:05:28.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Britain was fighting for its life
Dialogue: 0,0:05:28.92,0:05:30.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,against the French,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:30.73,0:05:33.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the romance of Albion
Dialogue: 0,0:05:33.02,0:05:35.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had never bitten deeper
Dialogue: 0,0:05:35.10,0:05:37.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the national imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.94,0:05:48.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner, meanwhile,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:48.29,0:05:50.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had been a great honour.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.87,0:05:55.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fellowship of the Royal Academy at just 26.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:55.52,0:05:57.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, he had to present them
Dialogue: 0,0:05:57.70,0:06:00.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a picture to mark his entry.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:01.22,0:06:03.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He gave them this.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.20,0:06:09.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which was to say a shock.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.57,0:06:13.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Dolbadern Castle in Snowdonia
Dialogue: 0,0:06:13.44,0:06:15.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was where a medieval Welsh prince,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:15.62,0:06:18.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Owen Gough, had met his end.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:18.39,0:06:19.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In reality,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.66,0:06:22.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was just a modest pile of stones on a hillside,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:22.89,0:06:25.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but Turner pumps up the melodrama,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:25.97,0:06:28.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,backlights the desolate crag,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:28.36,0:06:31.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that the castle becomes a personification
Dialogue: 0,0:06:31.24,0:06:33.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the defiant prince himself.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:34.34,0:06:37.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The tragic symbol of imprisoned liberty.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:39.79,0:06:42.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just in case people didn’t get it,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:42.01,0:06:44.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he added a little poem.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:46.46,0:06:49.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How awful is the silence of the waste.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.25,0:06:51.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where nature lifts her mountains to the sky.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.05,0:06:55.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Majestic solitude.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:55.19,0:06:58.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Behold the tower where hapless Owen
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.13,0:07:00.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,long imprisoned pined
Dialogue: 0,0:07:00.61,0:07:04.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and wrung his hands for liberty in vain.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.08,0:07:07.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Okay, so it’s not exactly Keats,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.84,0:07:10.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it is Turner reaching for the epic.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.41,0:07:12.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s all about atmospherics, not finicky,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:12.84,0:07:14.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,topographical description.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:14.97,0:07:17.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘Cause that’s what Britain was for Turner,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:17.35,0:07:18.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a biological sentiment,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:18.93,0:07:20.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an instinct in the blood,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.78,0:07:23.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and an irresistibly operatic arrangement
Dialogue: 0,0:07:23.50,0:07:25.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of light, air and water.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:25.81,0:07:28.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Elemental, heroic, legendary.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:32.10,0:07:34.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The painting smoothed the way
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.36,0:07:36.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the young man into the ranks
Dialogue: 0,0:07:36.40,0:07:37.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Academy.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.48,0:07:39.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it should have put everyone on notice
Dialogue: 0,0:07:39.40,0:07:41.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that this was a painter
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.34,0:07:42.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who’d never settle
Dialogue: 0,0:07:42.75,0:07:44.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the charming and the pretty.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:47.24,0:07:48.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner could have made
Dialogue: 0,0:07:48.83,0:07:50.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a perfectly decent living
Dialogue: 0,0:07:50.77,0:07:52.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,raking it in
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.35,0:07:55.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from the pleasure and leisure industry.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:57.93,0:08:00.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in his fertile imagination,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.53,0:08:02.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something grand and bloody
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.98,0:08:05.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was already stirring.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:15.19,0:08:17.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But he still had a fortune to make.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:19.11,0:08:21.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He wasn’t ready yet to be the maker
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.100,0:08:23.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of dark epics.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:40.16,0:08:42.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was the time to enjoy being
Dialogue: 0,0:08:42.46,0:08:45.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JMW Turner, RA.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:48.14,0:08:50.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’s rolling in money and commission,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.69,0:08:52.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he buys a West End house
Dialogue: 0,0:08:52.50,0:08:53.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for his pictures,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.83,0:08:55.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,himself and his old dad,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.70,0:08:58.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whom he shamelessly turns into his
Dialogue: 0,0:08:58.86,0:09:00.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all-purpose servant.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:00.54,0:09:03.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Old Dad would stretch and prime canvasses.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:03.32,0:09:05.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Old Dad would patrol the gallery.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:05.76,0:09:07.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Old Dad would tend
Dialogue: 0,0:09:07.04,0:09:09.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the vegetable garden out by the river
Dialogue: 0,0:09:09.36,0:09:10.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and revel in his son’s fame
Dialogue: 0,0:09:10.60,0:09:12.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and fortune.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:12.62,0:09:14.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Good old Dad.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:42.42,0:09:45.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But then, conventional family ties
Dialogue: 0,0:09:45.43,0:09:47.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,don’t seem to mean much to Turner.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.89,0:09:50.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s no dutiful Mrs T at home.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:50.74,0:09:53.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Marriage and art don’t go together,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.20,0:09:54.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he said.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:01.06,0:10:02.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So instead,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.40,0:10:04.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he takes as a lover the widow of a friend,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:04.88,0:10:06.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sarah Danby,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:06.34,0:10:08.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and installs her round the corner.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:08.75,0:10:11.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He even has two children by her.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:13.11,0:10:15.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,More illicitly still,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:15.26,0:10:19.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sarah is the muse of his erotic imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:20.17,0:10:22.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His drawings suggest he takes
Dialogue: 0,0:10:22.03,0:10:24.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as much pleasure in sex
Dialogue: 0,0:10:24.07,0:10:26.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a full moon over Buttermere.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:27.83,0:10:30.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It wasn’t until Turner’s will was published
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.57,0:10:32.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that anyone knew
Dialogue: 0,0:10:32.19,0:10:34.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about Sarah Danby and the children.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:42.99,0:10:44.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the erotica
Dialogue: 0,0:10:44.42,0:10:46.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,remained strictly under wraps
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.73,0:10:48.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in his lifetime.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.82,0:11:01.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner chose to live part of his life
Dialogue: 0,0:11:01.39,0:11:04.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,amidst the shadows of secret fantasies.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:04.07,0:11:06.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But when he emerged from this world
Dialogue: 0,0:11:06.47,0:11:08.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and strolled beside the Thames,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:08.50,0:11:10.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he indulged in another fantasy.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:10.68,0:11:12.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That he lived in a country
Dialogue: 0,0:11:12.12,0:11:13.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from which poverty, hunger and misery
Dialogue: 0,0:11:13.63,0:11:15.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had been banished.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:49.60,0:11:52.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner’s Thames was the place where
Dialogue: 0,0:11:52.03,0:11:54.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the romance of England came to him
Dialogue: 0,0:11:54.48,0:11:56.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with lyrical intensity.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.71,0:12:00.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A place of almost narcotic serenity.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:00.09,0:12:02.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the pleasure seeking
Dialogue: 0,0:12:02.16,0:12:04.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,public pleasing Turner.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:04.66,0:12:07.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And perhaps, he could have settled for this
Dialogue: 0,0:12:07.28,0:12:09.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mellow dream world,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:09.26,0:12:10.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gently stroking
Dialogue: 0,0:12:10.81,0:12:13.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the self-satisfaction of Regency England.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:18.83,0:12:21.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But even as he drifted trough
Dialogue: 0,0:12:21.12,0:12:23.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his Home Counties Eden,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:23.12,0:12:24.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner must have been aware
Dialogue: 0,0:12:24.84,0:12:26.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that alongside this idyll,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:26.61,0:12:28.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there was another England,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:28.26,0:12:29.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an England in distress.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:29.90,0:12:31.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And something in Turner
Dialogue: 0,0:12:31.78,0:12:33.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wanted to paint that England too.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:36.25,0:12:38.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For this was the early 1800s,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:38.42,0:12:40.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the rockiest years in all
Dialogue: 0,0:12:40.44,0:12:42.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,modern British history,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:42.46,0:12:45.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the time when the distance between
Dialogue: 0,0:12:45.40,0:12:46.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the fantasy Britain
Dialogue: 0,0:12:46.77,0:12:48.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the reality was at its widest.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:57.80,0:12:59.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The kingdom was supposed to be
Dialogue: 0,0:12:59.73,0:13:02.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a model of political and social stability.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:02.02,0:13:04.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there was a massive unemployment,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:04.55,0:13:06.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hunger, anger,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:06.36,0:13:08.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rick burning in the countryside,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:08.34,0:13:10.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,machine smashing in the towns.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:10.40,0:13:12.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The bloody war with Napoleon’s France
Dialogue: 0,0:13:12.64,0:13:14.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,grinding on and on.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:16.10,0:13:19.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are hard times, radical times.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:32.85,0:13:34.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So Turner produces
Dialogue: 0,0:13:34.65,0:13:37.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a gritty image of rough Britannia.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:45.25,0:13:47.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What’s your most delicious fantasy
Dialogue: 0,0:13:47.40,0:13:48.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of old England?
Dialogue: 0,0:13:48.82,0:13:50.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Summertime? A picnic?
Dialogue: 0,0:13:50.54,0:13:53.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, here’s a hard-bitten winter dawn,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:53.42,0:13:55.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it’s no picnic.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:08.90,0:14:10.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A shot hare
Dialogue: 0,0:14:10.45,0:14:13.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,slung around the shoulders of a girl.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:17.41,0:14:19.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rutted tracks.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:25.09,0:14:27.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Two men digging a ditch,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:27.20,0:14:28.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or is it a grave?
Dialogue: 0,0:14:29.27,0:14:31.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can feel the tough work of it
Dialogue: 0,0:14:31.74,0:14:34.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in that hard, frozen soil.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:34.37,0:14:38.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Everything impassive, unsentimental, dour.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:41.04,0:14:44.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How thing really are.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:44.78,0:14:46.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When did Constable ever do winter
Dialogue: 0,0:14:46.94,0:14:48.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the North?
Dialogue: 0,0:14:50.98,0:14:52.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why would Turner ever do
Dialogue: 0,0:14:52.91,0:14:54.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something so flinty?
Dialogue: 0,0:14:55.08,0:14:56.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, in Yorkshire,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:56.74,0:14:58.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he has become best mates
Dialogue: 0,0:14:58.80,0:15:01.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with someone who will change the way
Dialogue: 0,0:15:01.04,0:15:02.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he sees the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:03.14,0:15:05.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Walter Fawkes’s view of Britain
Dialogue: 0,0:15:05.24,0:15:07.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,isn’t exactly rose-tinted,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:07.07,0:15:09.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he’s not your usual country gent.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:09.90,0:15:11.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He is a political militant,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:11.99,0:15:14.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the scourge of the old Tory establishment.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:17.03,0:15:19.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the cause that’s most dear to
Dialogue: 0,0:15:19.37,0:15:20.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his radical toff
Dialogue: 0,0:15:20.94,0:15:23.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the great moral crusade of the day,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:24.31,0:15:27.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the abolition of the slave trade.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:35.03,0:15:36.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fawkes’s fury seeped
Dialogue: 0,0:15:36.81,0:15:38.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into Turner’s imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:53.36,0:15:54.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One day in 1810,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:55.12,0:15:56.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner took Fawkes’s son
Dialogue: 0,0:15:56.89,0:15:59.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for a walk on the Yorkshire Moors
Dialogue: 0,0:15:59.30,0:16:01.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a storm brewed.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:05.24,0:16:07.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The two of them sketch away.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:07.34,0:16:09.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner puts his pencil down.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:09.22,0:16:10.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“There, Hawkey,” he says,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:10.90,0:16:12.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“in two years you’ll see this,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:12.66,0:16:14.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it’ll be called
Dialogue: 0,0:16:14.24,0:16:16.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Hannibal Crossing the Alps.”
Dialogue: 0,0:16:22.59,0:16:24.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So a squall over the Yorkshire Moors
Dialogue: 0,0:16:24.81,0:16:26.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,turns into a no-holds-barred
Dialogue: 0,0:16:26.77,0:16:28.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alpine cataclysm.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:28.66,0:16:30.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A simultaneous blizzard
Dialogue: 0,0:16:30.48,0:16:32.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a shaft of sickly sun.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:32.74,0:16:35.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hannibal’s army is the victim,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:35.44,0:16:37.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as it clambers its painful way
Dialogue: 0,0:16:37.67,0:16:39.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over the Alpine passes.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:41.77,0:16:43.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stragglers picked off
Dialogue: 0,0:16:43.80,0:16:46.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by scary mountain men,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:47.99,0:16:49.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while a sucking vortex
Dialogue: 0,0:16:49.77,0:16:52.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hovers over the scene like some gigantic,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:52.52,0:16:54.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,malevolent bird of prey.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:56.02,0:16:58.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner does something tremendous
Dialogue: 0,0:16:58.28,0:17:00.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the storm over the Yorkshire Moors.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:00.70,0:17:02.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s not just scenic weather;
Dialogue: 0,0:17:02.66,0:17:04.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s a cosmic reckoning.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:07.18,0:17:08.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hannibal is a hit.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:08.85,0:17:10.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People crowded round it
Dialogue: 0,0:17:10.23,0:17:11.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so densely,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:11.29,0:17:12.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the gents couldn’t elbow
Dialogue: 0,0:17:12.93,0:17:14.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their way in to see it.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:15.26,0:17:17.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But why this picture pulls in the crowds?
Dialogue: 0,0:17:18.02,0:17:19.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not because it was a scene
Dialogue: 0,0:17:19.02,0:17:20.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from ancient history,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:20.72,0:17:22.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but because everybody knew
Dialogue: 0,0:17:22.27,0:17:24.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was also a modern painting.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:24.29,0:17:26.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A contemporary story.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:27.29,0:17:28.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The comeuppance handed out to
Dialogue: 0,0:17:28.83,0:17:31.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,another arrogant invader
Dialogue: 0,0:17:31.21,0:17:33.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who crossed the Alps in search of glory.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:34.70,0:17:37.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The archenemy, Napoleon.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:38.03,0:17:40.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In a crushing putdown,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:40.36,0:17:42.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner shrinks the mighty commander
Dialogue: 0,0:17:42.11,0:17:43.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to a puny,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:43.41,0:17:44.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,almost comical figure
Dialogue: 0,0:17:44.41,0:17:46.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the remote background,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:46.58,0:17:48.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,atop an elephant
Dialogue: 0,0:17:48.21,0:17:50.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that looks more like a dung beetle.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:57.10,0:17:59.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You have to say this about Turner, though.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:59.59,0:18:01.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’s an equal opportunity pessimist.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:01.95,0:18:03.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As much as he wants to see
Dialogue: 0,0:18:03.35,0:18:04.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the end of Napoleon,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:04.97,0:18:07.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he’s got a damn funny way
Dialogue: 0,0:18:07.05,0:18:08.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of celebrating Waterloo.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:09.35,0:18:10.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1817,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:10.84,0:18:13.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,does he paint victorious Wellington
Dialogue: 0,0:18:13.19,0:18:15.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and his gallant scarlet squares
Dialogue: 0,0:18:15.01,0:18:16.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of embattled grenadiers?
Dialogue: 0,0:18:16.82,0:18:19.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No, he gives us a carpet of corpses
Dialogue: 0,0:18:19.01,0:18:20.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the blackness.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:20.83,0:18:23.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Wives and sweethearts with their babies,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:23.50,0:18:25.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pathetically searching the carnage
Dialogue: 0,0:18:25.83,0:18:27.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for their loved ones.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:32.15,0:18:35.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An apparition of pure hell.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:38.34,0:18:41.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rather than glorify the Iron Duke,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:41.04,0:18:42.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it seems to exemplify
Dialogue: 0,0:18:42.73,0:18:44.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of his pithiest verdicts.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:44.75,0:18:47.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The next worst thing to a battle lost
Dialogue: 0,0:18:47.40,0:18:49.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a battle won.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:52.36,0:18:55.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No wonder it wasn’t until the 1980s
Dialogue: 0,0:18:55.07,0:18:58.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that this painting was properly displayed.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:59.17,0:19:00.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner’s refusal to beat
Dialogue: 0,0:19:00.61,0:19:02.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the patriotic drum
Dialogue: 0,0:19:02.09,0:19:04.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or wag the flag cost him patrons.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:04.94,0:19:07.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But with the Field of Waterloo,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:07.12,0:19:09.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he’s reached for something profound.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:09.11,0:19:11.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A British art that will act out
Dialogue: 0,0:19:11.24,0:19:13.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the suffering of victims.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:20.90,0:19:23.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, then, Turner knows all about
Dialogue: 0,0:19:23.15,0:19:25.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the lot of the common people.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:27.86,0:19:31.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,# No power on Earth can e’er divide #
Dialogue: 0,0:19:31.56,0:19:37.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,# The knot that sacred love hath ty’d #
Dialogue: 0,0:19:37.78,0:19:43.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,# No power on Earth can e’er divide #
Dialogue: 0,0:19:43.41,0:19:48.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,# The knot that sacred love hath ty’d #
Dialogue: 0,0:19:49.57,0:19:51.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’s not gentleman artist.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:51.89,0:19:53.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He was born and grew up
Dialogue: 0,0:19:53.80,0:19:56.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the filthy back alleys of Covent Garden,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:56.89,0:19:59.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where every day, he rubbed shoulders
Dialogue: 0,0:19:59.24,0:20:01.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the desperate and the destitute.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:02.30,0:20:04.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,#... against our mind #
Dialogue: 0,0:20:04.38,0:20:07.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,# The true love’s knot they faster bind #
Dialogue: 0,0:20:12.51,0:20:14.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This didn’t make his Waterloo
Dialogue: 0,0:20:14.60,0:20:16.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or any of his historical epics
Dialogue: 0,0:20:16.83,0:20:18.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,manifestoes for revolution.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:19.55,0:20:23.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They’re bigger, more disturbing than that.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:23.70,0:20:25.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They have washing through them
Dialogue: 0,0:20:25.69,0:20:27.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the tragic truth about
Dialogue: 0,0:20:27.19,0:20:28.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the powerlessness
Dialogue: 0,0:20:28.45,0:20:30.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of ordinary people when faced with
Dialogue: 0,0:20:30.74,0:20:32.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,atrocity and disaster.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:32.80,0:20:35.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People who existed right on the edge.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:36.98,0:20:39.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there was someone in his own life
Dialogue: 0,0:20:39.67,0:20:41.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who’d gone right over it.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:44.07,0:20:45.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His mother.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:52.06,0:20:53.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mary Turner
Dialogue: 0,0:20:53.31,0:20:54.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was a shrieking fury
Dialogue: 0,0:20:54.94,0:20:56.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the painter’s house.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:59.94,0:21:01.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Driven mad, perhaps,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:01.56,0:21:04.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the death of Turner’s younger sister.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:07.36,0:21:08.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1800,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:08.42,0:21:10.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she was incarcerated in Bedlam,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:10.83,0:21:12.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disappearing from his life
Dialogue: 0,0:21:12.86,0:21:15.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and dying 4 years later, in total neglect.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:23.55,0:21:25.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if Turner abandoned her,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:25.56,0:21:27.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could there have been,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:27.43,0:21:29.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wonder, a haunting?
Dialogue: 0,0:21:31.67,0:21:33.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Was Mary’s howling rage
Dialogue: 0,0:21:33.64,0:21:35.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,translated into the dark thunder
Dialogue: 0,0:21:35.70,0:21:39.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and burning gold of Turner’s skies?
Dialogue: 0,0:21:47.74,0:21:49.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This much I can say.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:50.15,0:21:51.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That an acute,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:51.48,0:21:54.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tragic sense of the frailty of human existence
Dialogue: 0,0:21:54.36,0:21:56.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,framed Turner’s life
Dialogue: 0,0:21:56.02,0:21:58.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and powers the greatest of his works.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:12.55,0:22:14.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the figure who populate
Dialogue: 0,0:22:14.54,0:22:16.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his history paintings
Dialogue: 0,0:22:16.27,0:22:18.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are often weirdly invertebrate.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:18.76,0:22:21.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So many rag dolls tossed around
Dialogue: 0,0:22:21.29,0:22:23.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the immense forces of fate.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:37.82,0:22:40.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Painting these discarded marionettes
Dialogue: 0,0:22:40.37,0:22:42.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was particularly wilful for someone
Dialogue: 0,0:22:42.70,0:22:45.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who’d studied academic figure drawing.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:45.64,0:22:47.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But then, despite the fact
Dialogue: 0,0:22:47.55,0:22:49.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he’s been a fellow at the Academy
Dialogue: 0,0:22:49.52,0:22:51.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for nearly 20 years,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:51.02,0:22:53.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner was proving to be the odd man out
Dialogue: 0,0:22:53.82,0:22:56.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the play-safe world of British art.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:59.83,0:23:01.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s not just what he paints
Dialogue: 0,0:23:01.61,0:23:03.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that gets him into trouble
Dialogue: 0,0:23:03.59,0:23:05.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with high-class critics,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:05.92,0:23:08.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s the way he paints it.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:11.04,0:23:13.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One critic despairs that Turner delights
Dialogue: 0,0:23:13.82,0:23:16.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in abstractions that go back to
Dialogue: 0,0:23:16.21,0:23:18.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the first chaos of the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:23.16,0:23:24.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, my dears,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:24.27,0:23:25.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what would you expect from the
Dialogue: 0,0:23:25.80,0:23:27.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,grubby little parvenu
Dialogue: 0,0:23:27.23,0:23:28.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with his downmarket accent
Dialogue: 0,0:23:28.80,0:23:30.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and his upmarket house?
Dialogue: 0,0:23:31.09,0:23:33.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s something obstinately coarse
Dialogue: 0,0:23:33.10,0:23:34.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that clings to him,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:34.87,0:23:36.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a pungent social aroma.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:37.67,0:23:39.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When Turner visits France,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:39.28,0:23:41.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the painter Delacroix is taken aback
Dialogue: 0,0:23:41.18,0:23:42.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he looks rather like
Dialogue: 0,0:23:42.71,0:23:44.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a farmer with unwashed hands.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:45.26,0:23:47.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oh, there’s dirt under Turner’s nails, all right,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:47.83,0:23:49.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it’s likely to be gamboge yellow
Dialogue: 0,0:23:49.97,0:23:51.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or Prussian blue,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:51.38,0:23:52.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not farm muck.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:53.00,0:23:54.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the worst thing
Dialogue: 0,0:23:54.28,0:23:55.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that he seems to wear
Dialogue: 0,0:23:55.37,0:23:56.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his unwashed hands
Dialogue: 0,0:23:56.66,0:23:58.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like a badge of professional pride.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:59.99,0:24:01.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When a young gentleman
Dialogue: 0,0:24:01.32,0:24:03.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,aspirant artist comes to see him,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:03.53,0:24:05.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner grabs his lily-white hands
Dialogue: 0,0:24:05.34,0:24:06.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and growls…
Dialogue: 0,0:24:06.52,0:24:08.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You’re not artist.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:13.66,0:24:14.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner himself
Dialogue: 0,0:24:14.92,0:24:17.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,uses his fingers to make his art;
Dialogue: 0,0:24:17.43,0:24:19.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,keeps a nail deliberately untrimmed
Dialogue: 0,0:24:20.14,0:24:22.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so he could wield it like a claw
Dialogue: 0,0:24:22.34,0:24:24.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to cut into the paint surface.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:24.61,0:24:26.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’s no dainty brush-flicker.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:26.75,0:24:28.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He wipes and scrapes,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:28.30,0:24:31.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,attacks the surface with a pumice stone,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:31.01,0:24:32.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spits into the paint
Dialogue: 0,0:24:32.61,0:24:34.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and gives it a good smoosh.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:34.87,0:24:37.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s this joyous urchin-like wallowing
Dialogue: 0,0:24:37.82,0:24:40.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the muck and slather of paint
Dialogue: 0,0:24:40.38,0:24:43.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Turner’s critics found so appalling.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:43.48,0:24:45.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one of them complained
Dialogue: 0,0:24:45.52,0:24:47.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about his perpetual need
Dialogue: 0,0:24:47.33,0:24:48.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be extraordinary.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:48.96,0:24:51.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, yes, how very un-British.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:20.30,0:25:22.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Turner didn’t wanted to be boxed in
Dialogue: 0,0:25:22.60,0:25:25.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by what Britain was becoming.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:25.34,0:25:27.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An empire of solid,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:27.09,0:25:29.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,prosaic commercial facts.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:29.08,0:25:30.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He needed something more,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:30.93,0:25:33.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a place where the poetic imagination
Dialogue: 0,0:25:33.68,0:25:35.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could drift and float.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:40.37,0:25:42.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was one place where
Dialogue: 0,0:25:42.25,0:25:45.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not to be sound or solid was of the essence.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:45.11,0:25:46.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Venice.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:46.85,0:25:48.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For 20 years, off and on,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:48.86,0:25:50.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner made the floating city
Dialogue: 0,0:25:50.98,0:25:52.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his soul mate.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:10.60,0:26:12.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner was spellbound
Dialogue: 0,0:26:12.38,0:26:14.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and conjured from a wisp here,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:14.76,0:26:16.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a daub there,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:16.29,0:26:18.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the gauzy radiance of the place.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:23.87,0:26:25.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner’s critics accused him
Dialogue: 0,0:26:25.86,0:26:28.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the cardinal sin of indistinctness.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:28.70,0:26:30.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But here in the floating city
Dialogue: 0,0:26:30.24,0:26:32.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where everything was liquid and slippery,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:32.90,0:26:35.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he could embrace that indistinctness,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:35.36,0:26:37.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,make it his own particular glory.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:36.04,0:27:37.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner could have been
Dialogue: 0,0:27:37.59,0:27:39.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tranquillised by Venice,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:40.01,0:27:42.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seduced into becoming
Dialogue: 0,0:27:42.03,0:27:44.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an accomplished supplier
Dialogue: 0,0:27:44.01,0:27:45.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of sensuous bliss.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:47.17,0:27:49.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the stagnant beauty of the city
Dialogue: 0,0:27:49.57,0:27:52.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made him think of something else.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:54.38,0:27:57.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He looked at Venice and he saw death.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:13.75,0:28:15.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For most of his life,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:15.09,0:28:16.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner had been the picture
Dialogue: 0,0:28:16.59,0:28:17.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of rude health.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:17.97,0:28:21.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now he’s sick, losing weight, wheezing.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:25.47,0:28:26.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He feels the grip
Dialogue: 0,0:28:26.87,0:28:29.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the ancient story of life and death
Dialogue: 0,0:28:29.42,0:28:31.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in his very own bones.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:51.81,0:28:54.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mortality eats away at him.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:55.49,0:28:56.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His indispensable,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:56.92,0:28:59.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,multi-tasking old dad had died.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:59.30,0:29:01.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not just his personal jack-of-all-trades,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:01.70,0:29:03.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but his best friend.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:03.55,0:29:06.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Other cherished intimates, Walter Fawkes,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:06.25,0:29:08.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the old radical, had gone, too.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:10.52,0:29:12.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To keep the aches and pains at bay,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:12.80,0:29:15.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he uses a tincture of thorn apple to cope,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:15.94,0:29:17.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a narcotic,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:17.38,0:29:19.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which probably sends his always
Dialogue: 0,0:29:19.82,0:29:22.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hyperactive visual imagination
Dialogue: 0,0:29:22.09,0:29:23.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into planetary orbit.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:24.72,0:29:26.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And from his bad dreams
Dialogue: 0,0:29:26.63,0:29:28.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gallops a biblical horror.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:35.98,0:29:39.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I looked and beheld a pale horse,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:40.08,0:29:43.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and his name that sat on him was Death,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:43.31,0:29:46.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Hell followed with him.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:59.73,0:30:01.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Turner paints his way
Dialogue: 0,0:30:01.76,0:30:03.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out of the nightmare.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:03.98,0:30:06.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Look closely, the skeleton is limp.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:08.44,0:30:11.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Death is dead.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:11.78,0:30:13.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner lives to paint on.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:16.86,0:30:18.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He won’t limply surrender
Dialogue: 0,0:30:18.53,0:30:20.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like some consumptive Romantic.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:21.08,0:30:22.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Instead he gathers his energies,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:22.71,0:30:25.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,puts his obsession to work,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:25.09,0:30:27.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,makes the cycle of life and death,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:27.44,0:30:29.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,suffering and salvation,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:29.90,0:30:33.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the theme of his greatest period of painting.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:45.15,0:30:47.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’s deep into his middle age.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:47.77,0:30:49.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When he stares at the waves
Dialogue: 0,0:30:49.29,0:30:51.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pounding the coast of Kent,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:51.45,0:30:52.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he feels that rhythm
Dialogue: 0,0:30:52.98,0:30:55.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of destruction and creation.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:55.26,0:30:57.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, Margate might not seem to you
Dialogue: 0,0:30:57.72,0:30:59.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,much of a place to brood
Dialogue: 0,0:30:59.32,0:31:01.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on historical destiny,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:01.18,0:31:02.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but for Turner,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:02.52,0:31:04.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was definitely more than just
Dialogue: 0,0:31:04.32,0:31:05.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seaside ozone
Dialogue: 0,0:31:05.64,0:31:07.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a stroll along the beach.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:28.35,0:31:30.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The sea becomes something more than
Dialogue: 0,0:31:30.96,0:31:33.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the carrier of power and wealth.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:35.33,0:31:36.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s the stage on which
Dialogue: 0,0:31:36.89,0:31:40.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the drama of British history gets played out.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:42.60,0:31:44.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sometimes that drama
Dialogue: 0,0:31:44.19,0:31:46.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is fierce and turbulent,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:46.70,0:31:49.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sometimes it’s a comforting story
Dialogue: 0,0:31:49.66,0:31:51.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for revolutionary times.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:17.02,0:32:20.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So in the painting he calls his “old darling”,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:20.55,0:32:22.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he gives us romantic wistfulness
Dialogue: 0,0:32:22.95,0:32:25.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the veteran battleship of Trafalgar,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:25.61,0:32:27.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Fighting Temeraire.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:31.95,0:32:34.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The vessel is restored fictitiously,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:34.54,0:32:37.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to one last heroic farewell voyage
Dialogue: 0,0:32:37.03,0:32:39.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before being broken up.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:40.03,0:32:41.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In Turner’s picture,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:41.68,0:32:43.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its masts are still standing,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:43.83,0:32:45.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its sails furled.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:45.83,0:32:48.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the little steam-power tug that pulls it
Dialogue: 0,0:32:48.07,0:32:50.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,isn’t some sort of modern villain.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:50.55,0:32:52.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s simply a fact of life
Dialogue: 0,0:32:52.07,0:32:53.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the new Britain,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:53.60,0:32:55.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a nation in upheaval
Dialogue: 0,0:32:55.58,0:32:57.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the Industrial Revolution
Dialogue: 0,0:32:57.24,0:32:58.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gathers momentum.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:59.76,0:33:01.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Turner has perfect pitch
Dialogue: 0,0:33:01.54,0:33:03.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for a British public torn
Dialogue: 0,0:33:03.73,0:33:05.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between affection for the past
Dialogue: 0,0:33:05.63,0:33:07.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and anticipation for the future.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:10.48,0:33:12.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s so emotionally versatile,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:12.53,0:33:13.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this picture,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:13.54,0:33:15.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it lets you indulge
Dialogue: 0,0:33:15.09,0:33:16.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whatever mood takes you.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:16.59,0:33:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Feel like an elegy?
Dialogue: 0,0:33:18.10,0:33:19.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, fine, then this can be
Dialogue: 0,0:33:19.86,0:33:21.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the sunset of Nelson’s England.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:22.03,0:33:25.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just made a lot of money from an industrial patent,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:25.33,0:33:26.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and feeling good?
Dialogue: 0,0:33:26.80,0:33:27.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fine again,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:27.77,0:33:32.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is the sunrise of your new industrial empire.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:38.56,0:33:40.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Turner’s restless imagination
Dialogue: 0,0:33:40.100,0:33:43.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,won’t settle for poignant gentleness.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:43.53,0:33:46.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He knows the truth is more tumultuous
Dialogue: 0,0:33:46.81,0:33:50.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that the sea has terrible tales to tell.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:53.62,0:33:55.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ships in peril fill his mind,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:55.83,0:33:57.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and those ships become
Dialogue: 0,0:33:57.49,0:33:59.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an emblem of the country.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:59.67,0:34:02.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The oceanic deep becomes the site
Dialogue: 0,0:34:02.13,0:34:05.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on which imperial destiny unfolds,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:05.13,0:34:07.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where British history will be wrecked,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:07.29,0:34:09.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rescued or salvaged.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:17.88,0:34:19.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Amphitrite was a convict ship
Dialogue: 0,0:34:19.87,0:34:22.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,carrying women and children to Australia.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:23.29,0:34:24.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it didn’t get far.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:24.88,0:34:26.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the channel, off Boulogne,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:26.85,0:34:28.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ship ran aground
Dialogue: 0,0:34:28.22,0:34:29.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and began to break up.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:37.77,0:34:39.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The French offered to land
Dialogue: 0,0:34:39.43,0:34:41.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the passengers and the crew.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:41.45,0:34:43.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the captain, a brutal disciplinarian,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:43.72,0:34:45.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rejected the offer on the grounds
Dialogue: 0,0:34:45.39,0:34:47.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he had no authority to land them
Dialogue: 0,0:34:47.60,0:34:50.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,anywhere except their antipodean prison.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:51.98,0:34:54.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The crew clung to masts and spars,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:54.27,0:34:56.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and most survived the wreck.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:56.77,0:34:58.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the women and children,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:58.74,0:35:00.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all 125 of them,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:00.39,0:35:02.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were swept away and drowned.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:04.14,0:35:05.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like his Waterloo,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:05.56,0:35:07.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s a painting of victims,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:07.01,0:35:09.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so much human flotsam and jetsam.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:09.61,0:35:13.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But this is the bare skeleton of a masterwork.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:13.56,0:35:15.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner never finished or showed it.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:31.23,0:35:34.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the idea behind it, cruelty at sea,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:34.30,0:35:36.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,blood, martyrdom,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:36.25,0:35:38.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,retribution and salvation,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:38.10,0:35:40.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had certainly not gone away.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:44.26,0:35:46.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It simmered
Dialogue: 0,0:35:46.07,0:35:48.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then exploded in a sky
Dialogue: 0,0:35:48.03,0:35:49.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the colour of blood.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:30.83,0:36:32.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the late 1830s,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:32.44,0:36:33.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one issue
Dialogue: 0,0:36:33.43,0:36:35.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,galvanised British moral outrage
Dialogue: 0,0:36:35.43,0:36:37.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more than any other:
Dialogue: 0,0:36:37.48,0:36:38.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,slavery.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:59.61,0:37:01.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Britain had outlawed slavery
Dialogue: 0,0:37:01.90,0:37:03.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,throughout the Empire.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:04.11,0:37:06.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in the Hispanic empires
Dialogue: 0,0:37:06.19,0:37:07.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the United States,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:07.94,0:37:10.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it not only survived, but thrived.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:13.74,0:37:15.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1840, in London,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:15.19,0:37:16.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an International Convention
Dialogue: 0,0:37:16.77,0:37:18.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Great and Good
Dialogue: 0,0:37:18.30,0:37:20.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was planned to express
Dialogue: 0,0:37:20.20,0:37:22.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,righteous indignation at this fact.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:22.61,0:37:24.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner, initiated into the cause
Dialogue: 0,0:37:24.68,0:37:26.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so many years ago by his patron,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:26.79,0:37:28.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Walter Fawkes,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:28.23,0:37:30.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wanted to have his say in paint.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:38.77,0:37:40.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And how does he do it?
Dialogue: 0,0:37:41.07,0:37:43.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By being a thorn in the side
Dialogue: 0,0:37:43.38,0:37:44.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of self-congratulation.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:50.32,0:37:53.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner reaches back 60 years to resurrect
Dialogue: 0,0:37:53.64,0:37:56.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of the most shameful episodes
Dialogue: 0,0:37:56.18,0:37:58.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the history of the British Empire.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:20.71,0:38:24.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1781, the British slaver, the Zong,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:24.93,0:38:27.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was off the coast of Jamaica
Dialogue: 0,0:38:27.04,0:38:29.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,after a routinely profitable journey
Dialogue: 0,0:38:29.14,0:38:30.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from Africa.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:40.56,0:38:43.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But deep below decks, there was trouble.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:47.49,0:38:49.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Slaves were dying at more
Dialogue: 0,0:38:49.84,0:38:51.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the usual rate.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:51.87,0:38:54.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the ship’s master, Luke Collingwood,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:54.51,0:38:56.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,suddenly had a business disaster
Dialogue: 0,0:38:56.63,0:38:58.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on his hands.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:01.86,0:39:03.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His human cargo was insured,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:03.94,0:39:06.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the underwriters would only pay up
Dialogue: 0,0:39:06.17,0:39:08.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if the casualties could be accounted for
Dialogue: 0,0:39:08.03,0:39:09.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as losses at sea,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:09.47,0:39:10.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not dead on arrival.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:21.35,0:39:24.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So Captain Collingwood went below decks
Dialogue: 0,0:39:25.77,0:39:28.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and began the merciless business of
Dialogue: 0,0:39:28.36,0:39:31.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,selecting which slaves he would swiftly turn
Dialogue: 0,0:39:31.70,0:39:33.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into “losses at sea”.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:12.29,0:40:14.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,132 Africans,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:14.12,0:40:15.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,men, women and children,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:15.84,0:40:18.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their hands and feet fettered,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:18.64,0:40:20.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were thrown overboard
Dialogue: 0,0:40:20.42,0:40:22.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the shark-infested waters
Dialogue: 0,0:40:22.59,0:40:24.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Caribbean.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:38.78,0:40:41.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The moral horror of the case of the Zong
Dialogue: 0,0:40:41.40,0:40:42.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was the moment
Dialogue: 0,0:40:42.82,0:40:44.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when thousand of Britons
Dialogue: 0,0:40:44.54,0:40:46.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,abandoned their indifference
Dialogue: 0,0:40:46.66,0:40:48.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and became campaigners
Dialogue: 0,0:40:48.61,0:40:50.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,against the slave trade.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:05.82,0:41:09.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,132 Africans perished horribly,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:09.16,0:41:11.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but a mass movement was born
Dialogue: 0,0:41:11.48,0:41:13.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from their martyrdom.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:20.38,0:41:22.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner’s approach to this
Dialogue: 0,0:41:22.08,0:41:23.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,appalling tragedy
Dialogue: 0,0:41:23.46,0:41:24.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was not that of
Dialogue: 0,0:41:24.75,0:41:26.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a literal historical illustrator.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:27.75,0:41:29.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What the great enchanter
Dialogue: 0,0:41:29.80,0:41:31.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the canvas wanted was,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:31.59,0:41:32.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Prospero-like,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:32.80,0:41:35.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to summon an apocalypse, a typhoon.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:54.36,0:41:56.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Slave Ship pitches us
Dialogue: 0,0:41:56.26,0:41:58.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the midst of a feverish dream
Dialogue: 0,0:41:58.62,0:42:00.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of catastrophe and terror,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:00.52,0:42:02.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sin and retribution.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:11.63,0:42:13.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The silhouetted ship,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:13.40,0:42:15.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,almost engulfed in the erupting spray,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:15.77,0:42:17.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is both a real vessel
Dialogue: 0,0:42:17.34,0:42:19.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and something cursed and haunted,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:19.93,0:42:22.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like the ship of the Ancient Mariner.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:24.12,0:42:27.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Waves seethe with monsters,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:27.44,0:42:29.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a kind of obscene piranha-like
Dialogue: 0,0:42:29.84,0:42:32.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,nibbling and gobbling.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:37.24,0:42:38.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the oncoming fishy monster
Dialogue: 0,0:42:38.86,0:42:39.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not to be catch off
Dialogue: 0,0:42:39.86,0:42:41.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the coast of Jamaica,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:41.86,0:42:43.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but off the canvas
Dialogue: 0,0:42:43.33,0:42:44.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Hieronymus Bosh,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:44.98,0:42:46.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hell, in high water.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:53.68,0:42:56.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, it has its imperfections,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:56.48,0:42:58.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all that flailing flurry of action
Dialogue: 0,0:42:58.13,0:42:59.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the foreground,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:00.71,0:43:03.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the mysteriously floating iron fetters,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:03.44,0:43:05.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the flung limb that may or may not
Dialogue: 0,0:43:05.93,0:43:08.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be detached from its torso.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:08.93,0:43:11.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All the frantic fishy action could seem
Dialogue: 0,0:43:11.50,0:43:13.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,too fussily staged.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:14.79,0:43:15.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the end,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:15.82,0:43:17.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there’s only one test that matters.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:17.89,0:43:19.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You come into the room,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:19.17,0:43:21.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you fix it in your sights,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:21.02,0:43:22.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,does it or does it not
Dialogue: 0,0:43:22.66,0:43:24.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,attack you in the guts?
Dialogue: 0,0:43:24.75,0:43:25.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It does.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:31.15,0:43:33.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Does your heart jump? Do your eyes widen?
Dialogue: 0,0:43:33.19,0:43:34.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Does your pulse race?
Dialogue: 0,0:43:34.62,0:43:35.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do you feet get a bad attack
Dialogue: 0,0:43:35.62,0:43:37.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of lead boots,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:37.31,0:43:39.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you’re so struck down by it? They do.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:43.72,0:43:46.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For Turner has drowned you in this moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:46.84,0:43:48.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pulled you into this terrifying
Dialogue: 0,0:43:48.25,0:43:50.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,chasm in the ocean,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:50.22,0:43:52.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,drenched you in his bloody light.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:52.82,0:43:54.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Exactly the hue
Dialogue: 0,0:43:54.20,0:43:57.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you sense on your blood-filled optic nerves
Dialogue: 0,0:43:57.43,0:43:59.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when you close your eyes
Dialogue: 0,0:43:59.62,0:44:01.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in blinding sunlight.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:03.66,0:44:05.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Though almost all of these critics
Dialogue: 0,0:44:05.86,0:44:07.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,believed that The Slavers
Dialogue: 0,0:44:07.06,0:44:09.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,represented an all-time low
Dialogue: 0,0:44:09.32,0:44:11.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in Turner’s reckless disregard
Dialogue: 0,0:44:11.58,0:44:13.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the rules of art
Dialogue: 0,0:44:13.38,0:44:16.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was in fact his greatest triumph
Dialogue: 0,0:44:16.21,0:44:18.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the sculptural carving of space.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:20.24,0:44:22.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For none of the stormy atmospherics,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:22.71,0:44:26.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the great pinwheel fury of reds and golds,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:26.05,0:44:28.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would have the impact they did,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:28.34,0:44:29.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were it not for that deep trough
Dialogue: 0,0:44:29.51,0:44:32.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner has cut in the ocean,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:32.13,0:44:34.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which at the centre of the painting
Dialogue: 0,0:44:34.39,0:44:37.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,makes the blackly heaving swells stand still
Dialogue: 0,0:44:37.96,0:44:40.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as though the wrathful hand of Jehovah
Dialogue: 0,0:44:40.54,0:44:42.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has suddenly passed
Dialogue: 0,0:44:42.29,0:44:44.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over the boiling waters.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:47.10,0:44:49.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For this is a day of martyrdom,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:49.44,0:44:52.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,retribution and judgement.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:56.94,0:44:58.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But also a scene,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:58.80,0:45:01.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner must have optimistically thought,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:01.80,0:45:03.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of vindication.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:04.74,0:45:07.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It would be a sin redeemed.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:08.80,0:45:11.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Slavery would be defeated.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:14.89,0:45:16.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is, after all,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:16.68,0:45:18.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a patch of clearing blue
Dialogue: 0,0:45:18.64,0:45:21.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the top right corner of the painting.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:31.92,0:45:34.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The critics went to town.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:34.48,0:45:36.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner became the butt of jokes,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:36.62,0:45:39.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a crackpot, old loon, lost in the tempest
Dialogue: 0,0:45:39.88,0:45:42.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with his ridiculous painting.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:42.63,0:45:45.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And its even more ridiculous full title,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:47.72,0:45:48.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Slavers,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:48.98,0:45:52.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Slave Ship Throwing Over the Death and Dying,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:52.12,0:45:54.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Typhoon Coming on.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:57.09,0:45:58.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Punch magazine joined in
Dialogue: 0,0:45:58.54,0:46:00.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the chorus of catcalls,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:00.44,0:46:01.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lampooning Turner
Dialogue: 0,0:46:01.51,0:46:04.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by inventing a painting with the title,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:04.60,0:46:06.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“A typhoon bursting a samoon
Dialogue: 0,0:46:06.30,0:46:08.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over a whirlpool maelstrom”,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:08.58,0:46:10.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Norway, a ship on fire,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:10.52,0:46:12.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and eclipse with the effect
Dialogue: 0,0:46:12.73,0:46:14.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of a lunar rainbow”.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:26.50,0:46:27.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Punch
Dialogue: 0,0:46:27.74,0:46:29.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and all the other high-hat critics
Dialogue: 0,0:46:29.91,0:46:32.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,missed the one overwhelming point
Dialogue: 0,0:46:32.30,0:46:35.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which makes the greatest British picture
Dialogue: 0,0:46:35.31,0:46:37.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the 19th century,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:38.92,0:46:43.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the perfect match between message and form.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:45.33,0:46:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The payoff of the slaves’ martyrdom
Dialogue: 0,0:46:48.02,0:46:50.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would in the end be freedom.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:59.29,0:47:01.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So Turner has given himself
Dialogue: 0,0:47:01.40,0:47:02.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,glorious freedom
Dialogue: 0,0:47:02.97,0:47:05.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with his brush and with his colour,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:05.26,0:47:07.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and with his imagery,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:07.14,0:47:10.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to convey the power of the sacred moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:49.76,0:47:51.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Two years after the debate
Dialogue: 0,0:47:51.82,0:47:53.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of The Slave Ship,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:53.57,0:47:54.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a young Scottish admirer,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:54.90,0:47:56.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,William Leitch,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:56.64,0:47:59.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,visited Turner’s house in Queen Anne Street.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:08.50,0:48:10.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’d herd that the Turner gallery
Dialogue: 0,0:48:10.44,0:48:12.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was in disrepair,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:12.01,0:48:14.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but nothing could possibly have prepared
Dialogue: 0,0:48:14.31,0:48:16.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Leitch for the squalor.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:20.96,0:48:22.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I walked backwards and forwards
Dialogue: 0,0:48:22.92,0:48:24.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the gallery,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:24.10,0:48:26.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,feeling cold and uncomfortable.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:26.27,0:48:28.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was no sound to be heard
Dialogue: 0,0:48:28.62,0:48:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the rain splashing
Dialogue: 0,0:48:30.00,0:48:31.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through the broken windows
Dialogue: 0,0:48:31.88,0:48:33.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,upon the floor.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:34.67,0:48:37.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Leitch stood in the evil-smelling gloom.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:38.24,0:48:41.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And as peered at Turner’s most recent work,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:41.16,0:48:43.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,among which was hanging, somewhere,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:43.86,0:48:46.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the scarlet explosion that was the unsold,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:46.74,0:48:49.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unwanted, unloved Slave Ship,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:49.67,0:48:52.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he felt more and more depressed.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:53.25,0:48:54.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But this was the moment
Dialogue: 0,0:48:54.97,0:48:57.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when the country’s favourite painter,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:57.08,0:48:59.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,once revered as the patriarch of British art,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:59.88,0:49:02.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was written off as a senile lunatic.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:16.15,0:49:18.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet the effect of the critical onslaught
Dialogue: 0,0:49:18.31,0:49:20.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to make him more, not less, brave.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:20.80,0:49:22.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’s off on his own now,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:22.31,0:49:23.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the solitary mariner
Dialogue: 0,0:49:23.87,0:49:26.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on a completely unchartered ocean
Dialogue: 0,0:49:26.14,0:49:27.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of pure painting.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:42.14,0:50:44.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alongside all these scenes
Dialogue: 0,0:50:44.46,0:50:46.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of oceanic turmoil,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:46.63,0:50:49.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Turner was still capable of painting images
Dialogue: 0,0:50:49.42,0:50:51.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of exquisite liquid calm.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:52.08,0:50:53.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But you have the feeling
Dialogue: 0,0:50:53.78,0:50:55.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he could do those in his sleep.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:56.17,0:50:58.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s when his whirlpool of paint resolves
Dialogue: 0,0:50:58.70,0:51:01.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,itself into something weightier and mightier
Dialogue: 0,0:51:01.15,0:51:04.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the entertainment of the senses,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:04.92,0:51:06.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when he reaches towards
Dialogue: 0,0:51:06.06,0:51:09.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the truth of history and eternity
Dialogue: 0,0:51:09.06,0:51:11.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I think Turner is at his greatest.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:12.67,0:51:13.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s when he changes
Dialogue: 0,0:51:13.93,0:51:15.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not just British art,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:15.91,0:51:19.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but all of art, most completely.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:25.60,0:51:26.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:26.97,0:51:28.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is why Turner still matters to us
Dialogue: 0,0:51:28.58,0:51:30.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and always will.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:30.61,0:51:32.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That old Cockney geezer in his battered hat
Dialogue: 0,0:51:33.20,0:51:35.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and filthy coat transport us somewhere
Dialogue: 0,0:51:35.40,0:51:38.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the slick conformist would never dare to go.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:38.78,0:51:43.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Into the eye of history’s storm.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Into the ocean of light.