One of Twenty Vignettes - The Last Man
About this artwork
The Scottish National Gallery has the only set of Turner’s literary vignettes that remain together in one collection, his twenty illustrations for ‘The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell’ . These were made to be engraved in Edward Moxon’s edition of Campbell’s poems, published in 1837. A copy of this book is in the collection of the Scottish National Gallery Print Room. In his poem, Campbell imagined the dying words of the last man on earth. In the absence of any other humans to speak to, he addresses the waning sun. In the sky, Turner introduces a cross to symbolise the last man’s immortal soul; it is surrounded by the heavenly host, and a spirit rises up beneath the man. At the lower left are pyramids, presumably signifying the antiquity of humanity.
Updated before 2020
see media-
artist:Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 - 1851) English
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title:One of Twenty Vignettes - The Last Man
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date created:About 1835
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materials:Watercolour over pencil on paper
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measurements:12.50 x 9.00 cm (framed: 45.10 x 39.70 x 2.80 cm)
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object type:
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credit line:Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Gallery of Scotland, 1988
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accession number:D 5164
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gallery:
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner transformed the art of landscape painting in Britain. From detailed topographical studies to expansive, atmospheric vistas his works celebrate the diversity and emotive power of nature. He was born in Covent Garden, the son of a barber, and exhibited his earliest sketches in his father's...