The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October 18341835 · Study 1942.647

Context from the museum

Fire consumed London’s famous Houses of Parliament on the night of October 16, 1834, and people gathered along the banks of the river Thames to gaze in awe at the horrifying spectacle. Initially, a low tide made it difficult to pump water to land and hampered steamers towing firefighting equipment along the river. The blaze burned uncontrollably for hours. J. M. W. Turner records the struggle as the boats in the lower-right corner head toward the flames. Although Turner based the painting on an actual event, he magnified the height of the flames, using the disaster as the starting point to express man’s helplessness when confronted with the destructive powers of nature. Brilliant swathes of color and variable atmospheric effects border on abstraction.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

A detail to notice

Turner painted two versions of this event. Cleveland's painting views the fire downriver, from the southeast bank of the Thames, while the second version at the Philadelphia Museum of Art views the fire from directly across Westminster Bridge.

Observation supplied by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected unframed measurement for The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October 1834 is 123.2 cm wide and 92 cm high, equivalent to approximately 48.5 × 36.2 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 1.34:1. The rectangular bounding area is 1.13 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 41.1% of the span before adding a frame. A centered placement leaves approximately 88.4 cm on each side before adding a frame. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October 1834 in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, oil on canvas, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this horizontal composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 123.2 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?