The Sublime in paintings of St Michael's Mount, Cornwall by JMW Turner and Clarkson Stanfield

19th Century maritime artists were particularly awed by the Cornish island of St Michael's Mount near to Marazion. JMW Turner, followed by Clarkson Stanfield and Charles Napier Hemy all made sure they stopped to paint this national heritage site. Artist trips to Cornwall and the West of England were common way before the Newlyn School came to being at the end of the 1800s, and St Michael's Mount was one place every artist wanted to go to.

Today if one visits the mount you can see why it is still seen as one of the most sublime places to go to in the United Kingdom. Whether you go on a sunny or a stormy day, the island is unparalleled and the different skies and seas help to give a new experience on every visit. Being located in the far South West of Cornwall the weather is very changeable with clear blue skies suddenly passing for ominous black ones and surges in wind speeds. 

I have chosen two contrasting depictions of the Mount for this blog post to show how differently the sublime nature of the island can be expressed. The sublime was something that many artists in this period were still trying to achieve and this stemmed from the philosopher Edmund Burke (18th Century) who himself believed that scenes of power, magnificence and vastness could be sources of 'the sublime' which could ultimately bring people closer to God and to nature.

The first example is by Clarkson Stanfield (see figure 1) and helped launch his career as a Royal Academician. The painting shows the Mount with an incredible storm coming on with fishermen in the foreground trying to save a boat. The magnificence of the castle is on display with a glimmer of sunshine lighting it. King William IV was so impressed with the painting when he saw it at an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1830 that he commissioned Stanfield to do two paintings for him. This break helped to make Stanfield into one of the most famous British Maritime artists of the period and it was St Michael's Mount that helped to launch this.

Figure 1: Clarkson Stanfield, Mount St Michael Cornwall, 1830, Oil-on-Canvas, 153 x 244 cm,  National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.

JMW Turner visited Cornwall on a few occasions but the painting I have chosen to compare to Stanfield's was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1834 (see figure 2), therefore a few years after Stanfield's attempt. This painting is typical of Turner and instead of a rough sea it is drawn as calmly is it possibly could be. The castle like Stanfield's is doused in sunlight, but this time it looks almost from another heavenly world, a completely different attempt to Stanfield's at displaying the sublime.

Figure 2: JMW Turner, St Michael's Mount, Cornwall, 1834, Oil-on-Canvas,  61 x 77.4 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum.

I am interested in people's opinion's on the two paintings and to see what each painting evokes in regard to emotions. I am also particularly interested to hear from anyone has visited St Michael's Mount and to see if either painting reminds you of your visit. Remember there was no photography at this point when Stanfield and Turner painted therefore the role of an artist was heightened with as much drama as the artist thought was necessary. Interestingly even after photography was invented artists would still come back to paint the Mount and I think it still holds a mystical and sublime appeal today.