Hannibal and His Army Postcard

This is a reproduction of William Turner’s masterpiece, “Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps” of 1812. It was left to th British Nation at the artist’s death in 1851 and was acquired by the National Gallery five years later. It is presently in the Tate Gallery and is an oil on cavas measuring 57.5 by 93.5 inches. It is the first work of Tuner’s that depicts a swirling oval vortex of furious weather and clouds that would later dominate many of Turner’s works. It was a conscious answer to David’s “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” because Turner saw many parallels between Napoleon and Hannibal. Turner had visited the Alps in 1802 and began sketches as early as 1804. He later related that the storm was inspired by one he witnessed in Yorkshire in 1810.