1835
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October 1834 is a 1835 unspecified by Joseph Mallord William Turner, a British Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows London’s Houses of Parliament engulfed in flames along the Thames. Turner paints the fire as a wild, glowing beast, with smoke twisting into the night sky. Boats in the lower right struggle toward the blaze, their lights tiny against the chaos. Turner painted this just months after the real fire. He didn’t copy the scene exactly—he exaggerated the colors and smoke to make the drama hit harder. This is one of his most dramatic works. Next, check out Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775–1851).
Fire consumed London’s famous Houses of Parliament on the night of October 16, 1834, and people gathered along the banks of the river Thames to gaze in awe at the horrifying spectacle. Initially, a low tide made it difficult to pump water to land and hampered steamers towing firefighting equipment along the river. The blaze burned uncontrollably for hours. J. M. W. Turner records the struggle as the boats in the lower-right corner head toward the flames. Although Turner based the painting on an actual event, he magnified the height of the flames, using the disaster as the starting point to…
Turner painted two versions of this event. Cleveland's painting views the fire downriver, from the southeast bank of the Thames, while the second version at the Philadelphia Museum of Art views the fire from directly across Westminster Bridge.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Joseph Mallord William Turner was born in 1775 at Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, where his father kept a barber and wig-making shop.
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