The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October 1834

1835

Oil on canvas, 92 × 123.2 cm. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

Fire tears through the old Parliament buildings at Westminster, lighting up the Thames and the bridge beyond. Turner painted it the year after the blaze, raising the flames above their real height.

This version looks at the fire from downriver; the other, looking across Westminster Bridge, is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Look at the small craft pushing toward the blaze at lower right; the museum adds that low water at first held up the steam vessels hauling fire-fighting gear.
Loose strokes of color, glinting reflections and drifting smoke leave the buildings and bridge only half defined.
A real disaster becomes public spectacle. The dark mass of onlookers packed along the near bank is part of the subject, so the picture is as much about watching as about the fire.
Bought from Turner by a Leeds collector; bequeathed to Cleveland by John L. Severance.

Image: Cleveland Museum of Art (open access) · CC0