Butter-yellow clouds and water, a periwinkle-blue sky, and pale plum-purple buildings blend in hazy, indistinct bands across this horizontal landscape painting. The paint is thickly applied in some areas, especially along the top of the sky, and the scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout. The blurry horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition and the small, round, white sun shines low in the sky to our left. The sky or clouds around the sun are painted with shades of pale sapphire-blue with touches of lavender, which give way to a lemon-yellow clouds or…

Gallery mode Full size at the museum

Approach to Venice

Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775 - 1851)

1844

Medium: oil on canvas
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: overall: 62 x 94 cm (24 7/16 x 37 in.) ; framed: 88 x 118.4 x 12.4 cm (34 5/8 x 46 5/8 x 4 7/8 in.)
Culture: British
Museum: National Gallery of Art, CAB
Credit line: Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Rights: Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art

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