J.M.W. Turner excelled at capturing the beauty and mysteries of light. Cool, white moonlight contrasts with warm, yellow and orange firelight. Shimmering reflections animate the water’s still surface.
J. M. W. 透納擅長捕捉光的美與奧秘。清涼的白色月光與溫暖的黃橙色火光形成了鮮明對比。閃著微光的倒影為平靜的水面帶來勃勃生機(jī)。
The setting is the port of Newcastle, England, where coal from inland mines is being loaded onto ships. Coal was used to fuel the factories, mills, railroads, steamships, and other great machines that were transforming Britain during the Industrial Revolution. The dark smoke rising on the right may refer to the increasing air pollution.
畫面描述的場景是在英國的紐卡斯?fàn)柛郏瑏碜詢?nèi)陸煤礦的煤炭正在裝船。工業(yè)革命期間,煤是工廠、磨坊、鐵路、輪船及其他改變英國的大型機(jī)器的燃料。畫面右側(cè)升起的黑煙可能意味著空氣污染日益嚴(yán)重。
We hover over a flax-yellow body of water lined with ships to our left and right, which are silhouetted against a moonlit, cloud-veiled sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition. The moon hangs to our left of center in the sky, its light reflecting on the clouds in a bright, hourglass shape to create a tunnel-like effect. The sea below turns from a gold color close to us to pale blue along the horizon.
這是一幅橫幅風(fēng)景畫,畫面定格在一片亞麻黃色的水域,左右兩邊船只林立,映襯著月光照耀下云霧籠罩的天空。地平線顯現(xiàn)在畫面由下往上大約三分之一處。月亮在天空中間偏左的位置,月光打在云層上,反射形成的光影像一個明亮的沙漏,創(chuàng)造出類似隧道的光效。天空下的大海從前景的金黃逐漸變成遠(yuǎn)景地平線一帶的淡藍(lán)。
To our left, one ship with gray sails is cut off by the edge of the canvas and another, also with gray sails, is situated farther from us. A small, dark rowboat with two passengers moves between them. Light from the windows in buildings along the distant horizon to our left reflect in the water, and another building, a factory, spouts white flame from its chimney.
畫面左側(cè),邊緣處露出半截掛著數(shù)張灰帆的帆船,更遠(yuǎn)處還有一艘也掛著灰帆的船。兩船之間的水面上有一艘載著兩名乘客的黑色劃艇。左側(cè)遠(yuǎn)處地平線上的建筑物從窗口透出的光倒映在水中,還有一棟建筑的煙囪里噴出了白色的火焰,那是一家工廠。
More dark ships line the waterway to our right, their spiky masts black against the sky. Three flames, one orange between two pale yellow fires, flare in the darkness in front of the ship closest to us. The forms of men shoveling coal, crates, and barges are dark silhouettes against the firelight and smoke.
畫面右側(cè)的水道上排列著更多黑色的船只,尖尖的桅桿在天空的映襯下顯得黑黑的。黑暗中,三團(tuán)火焰——兩團(tuán)淡黃色夾著中間一團(tuán)橙色——在距觀畫者最近的那艘船前燃燒著。在火光和煙霧的映襯下,鏟煤人、板條箱和駁船都成了黑色的剪影。
More rowboats float among the boats in the distance. Near the lower right corner of the canvas, a broad, flat fragment of wood floats close to us. The hot orange and black on the right side of the painting contrasts with the silvery gray, light blue, and white that fills much of the rest of the composition.
遠(yuǎn)處的船只間漂浮著更多的劃艇。畫面前景右下角附近漂著一塊又寬又平的木頭。整幅畫右邊這一部分的鮮橙色和黑色與其余大部分畫面的銀灰色、淺藍(lán)色和白色形成了鮮明對比。
The painting was created with thick, blended brushstrokes throughout, giving the scene a hazy look. The texture of some of the brushstrokes is especially noticeable, as where the moon casts white light onto the water and in the clouds. The artist signed a buoy floating to our left with his initials, “JMWT.”
這幅畫的筆觸厚實(shí)而相互交融,給整個場景增添了一種朦朧感。有些筆觸的線條尤其引人注目,比如月亮投向水面和云層的白色月光。透納在畫面左側(cè)漂浮的一個浮標(biāo)上簽了他姓名的首字母縮寫JMWT。
Here Turner brings the great force of his romantic genius to a common scene of working-class men at hard labor. Although the subject of the painting is rooted in the grim realities of the industrial revolution, in Turner’s hands it transcends the specifics of time and place and becomes an image of startling visual poetry.
這幅畫中,透納發(fā)揮他強(qiáng)大的浪漫主義天賦描繪了一個工人階級辛勤勞動的普通場景。雖然畫的主題根植于工業(yè)革命的殘酷現(xiàn)實(shí),但在透納的畫筆下,它超越具體的時間和地點(diǎn),成為了令人驚艷的詩意影像。