J. M. W. Turner and the Great Western Railway, and John Everett Millais and an Ancient Oak

Abstract

The J. M. W. Turner painting Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway has a special importance as one of the earliest canvases to show how the Industrial Revolution altered the British landscape. Could nineteenth-century railroad timetables help us to understand the origin of this painting? Can we identify the railway bridge in the canvas? Turner first exhibited this work at the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1844. Remarkably, an eyewitness account of a June 1843 trip by Lady Jane Simon on the Great Western Railway apparently described the moment that inspired Turner to create Rain, Steam, and Speed. Some art historians have accepted the veracity of Lady Simon’s story, but others have been skeptical and regard her account as unreliable.