Mortlake Terrace《摩特雷克平臺》

This painting， one of two views of Mortlake Terrace painted by Turner， is a view from the house， looking directly west into the luminous glow of the setting sun. Turner established the quiet mood of the late-afternoon scene with two ivy-covered elm trees， whose soft， feathery leaves and curving limbs frame the painting. Long shadows create elegant patterns on the lawn that almost obscure the human element in the scene. Scattered about are a gardener’s ladder， a hoop， a doll on a red chair， and an open portfolio of pictures that have been just left behind by figures watching the Lord Mayor’s ceremonial barge.

透納畫過兩幅摩特雷克平臺的風景畫，此畫是其中之一，描繪了從房子向外看到的景觀——畫家面向正西，落日余暉的景色盡收眼底。透納用兩棵爬滿常春藤的榆樹營造出傍晚的寧靜氣氛，榆樹松軟的羽狀葉和彎曲的枝椏形成了天然的畫框。長長的樹影在草坪上投射出雅致的圖案，讓畫中人物顯得有些模糊。畫面上散布著一架園藝梯、一個滾圈、一只放在紅椅上的玩偶，還有一個打開的畫夾散落出幾張畫，那是觀看市長大人儀仗船的人留下的。

The painting was done about eight years after Turner’s first stay in Venice， where his perception of nature and the physical world was profoundly changed by the city’s unique light and atmosphere. Light immobilizes the river and gives its surface a dreamlike shimmer. The stable mass of the classical gazebo， the delicate linear clarity of its architectural details， and the carefully depicted windows in the buildings on the left bank of the river coexist in Turner’s vision with the heavy impasto of the sun’s forceful rays that spill over the top of the embankment wall and dissolve the stone’s very substance.

這幅畫是透納第一次造訪威尼斯八年后完成的。威尼斯獨特的光線和氛圍深深改變了透納對大自然和物質世界的感知。光線讓河水猶如停滯，河面泛著夢幻的微光。在透納眼中，古典觀景亭的厚重、其建筑細節清晰而精致的線條，以及河左岸數幢建筑細繪的窗戶，這些與厚涂呈現的強烈日光互不影響——那日光從河堤堤墻頂部溢出，看似消融了部分堤石。

Painted in golden tones of butter and harvest yellow， tawny brown， and olive green， this horizontal landscape painting has a low wall stretching diagonally from the lower right corner off to our left， dividing a river to our right from a grassy lawn to our left. The waist-high wall is lined with tall trees with high canopies， which fill most of the composition.

這張橫幅風景畫的用色包含金色調的淡黃和亮黃，還有茶褐色和橄欖綠。一道低矮的堤墻從畫面右下角斜向畫面左側，隔開了右邊的河流和左邊的草坪。齊腰高的堤墻沿線是一列高大的樹木，頂著高高的樹冠，占據了大部分畫面。

Close to us， at the lower center of the painting， a hoop rests against the end of a second， low wall. A short ladder with four rungs leans against a tree trunk in the lower left corner. Only a sliver of the ivy-covered trunk rises along the left edge of the painting.

近景中，畫面中下部出現了另一段矮墻，矮墻末端的一側墻面斜靠著一個滾圈。左下角，一架四橫檔矮梯搭在樹干上。沿畫面左緣描繪的這根樹干只露出了細細的一條，樹干上爬滿了常春藤。

A short distance away， two chairs near a small， square-topped wooden table sit on the grass under the long shadows of the tall trees. Two or three people， seeming to wear long skirts， stand or sit on the long wall that spans the width of the painting， behind a nearby tree trunk.

不遠處的草坪上放著一張木制小方桌，旁邊有兩把椅子，大樹長長的陰影籠住了那一片區域。近旁的一根樹干后，兩三個看似身著長裙的女子或站或坐在堤墻上，長長的堤墻橫跨了整幅畫。

A navy-blue garment lies over the wall to our right， and a black dog walks on the wall near the center of the painting， beyond the people. Barely visible， a small white dog stands with its front paws on the wall next to the black dog. A pathway alongside the trees and wall leads to a covered structure with a triangular pediment roof held up by fluted columns in the distance.

畫面右邊的堤墻上攤放著一件海軍藍的衣服。一只黑狗遠離人群，走在靠近畫面中央的堤墻上。一只不太顯眼的小白狗前爪扒著墻面站起，就在黑狗旁邊。一條小路沿著樹木和堤墻通向遠處一座有遮蔽的建筑——四根雕花柱支撐著三角墻屋頂。

Several long， low barges filled with people float in the river to our right. Red and white flags flutter in the breeze and the full， rectangular sails of a couple of the boats are raised. The placid surface of the river is thickly painted， especially where the small disk of the pale yellow sun reflects on the golden surface of the water below.

畫面右邊的河中漂浮著幾艘細長、低矮的駁船，船上載滿了人。紅白旗子在微風中飄揚，有兩三艘長方形帆的小船升起了滿帆。平靜的河面是用厚涂的顏料描繪的，淺黃色小圓盤似的太陽映照在下方金色的河面上——那部分的顏料尤其厚重。

The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition and is lined in the deep distance with a band of loosely painted， muted， mauve-pink buildings and trees.

地平線在畫面從下往上約三分之一的地方，由極遠處一帶布局松散、光線柔和的粉紫色建筑及樹木勾勒顯現。