ABOVE: detail from J.M.W. Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire (1839), which was voted the greatest painting in britain by her citizens yesterday.

Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire was unveiled as the greatest painting in Britain on the BBC Radio 4 show “Today,” er, yesterday. The Temeraire proved itself a pretty good fighter indeed, taking 31,892 out of a total 118,111 votes cast, or a full 27 per cent. No one seemed to mind that it depicts a fabled warship of the waning British navy being hauled away for demolition, which, as metaphors go, is pretty blunt. Hail Britannia, huh?

We don’t approve of the contest, of course, having made that view known earlier. These kind of ludicrous ranking projects do seem to engage the public, but it has nothing to do with the art, just as American Idol has nothing to do with singing and everything to do with the money shot of kicking someone out. The ranking is the end, not the means. Just like the real Temeraire, this painting won the battle but lost the war.

LINK: BBC > Turner wins ‘great painting’ vote