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Follow the great pale sail upward to the white flag, then look past the small boats for a distant steamship.
The smaller boat carries fish buyers approaching the crowded fishing vessel to bargain for its catch. Turner sets this everyday transaction amid a turbulent sea, with a steamship signaling another kind of maritime activity in the distance. Thick touches of paint catch the foreground light; he placed his signature on the high white flag.
Oil on canvas · 174.5 × 224.9 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Romanticism
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for Fish
- Artist
- J. M. W. Turner
- Date
- 1837–38
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 174.5 × 224.9 cm (68 3/4 × 88 1/2 in.); Framed: 216.6 × 268 cm (85 1/4 × 105 1/2 in.)
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Kimball Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.