Cornwall, the westernmost point of England, rise the
jagged rocks called Long Ships; a lighthouse was erected
on the largest of these in 1797.* Turner's drawing of the
site in the sketchbook (British Museum inv. ADD CXXVA,
p. 27) of Cornwall and Devon made circa 1811 served as
the starting point for the watercolor (Shanes 1979, p.
155).
In contrast to the emphasis on human drama in
other watercolors of shipwrecks from the England and
Wales series, Long Ship's Lighthouse depicts that point in
the English topography where nature reigns supreme,
obliterating human presence. In the foreground, waves
dash to pieces a hapless ship, beyond the reach of human
intervention, which is indicated by the remote flicker-
ings of the lighthouse and warning fires on the coastal
rocks. John Ruskin was especially impressed by the por-
trayal of the element of water in Long Ship's Lighthouse,
in which he perceived that Turner had captured "the
whole surface of the sea... undirected, bounding,
and crashing, and coiling in an anarchy of enormous
power. "^2
- Picturesque Views in England and Wales, from Drawings by
J. M. W. Turner, Engraved under the Superintendence of Mr. Charles
Heath. With Descriptive and Historic Illustrations by H. E. Lloyd
(London, 1838), vol. 2, no pagination.
- Modern Painters, vol. i, pt. 2 (London, 1903), pp. 566-67.
322 BRITISH SCHOOL • TURNER
