Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

David Knight: In a masterpiece made of memories, mum sails serenely on in all her splendour

The Fighting Temeraire  by Joseph Mallord William Turner.
The Fighting Temeraire by Joseph Mallord William Turner.

I found inspiration in a masterpiece painted nearly 200 years ago to help soothe a bad situation with my mum.

My brother had been explaining to me how he was about to start clearing mum’s personal effects at her flat.

It was going to yield a sentimental bundle of sadness and joy which meant something special to her.

David Knight

I felt a pang of guilt because my brother had shouldered all the responsibility as her condition spiralled downwards. I lived too far away.

You might assume quite understandably that we were coping with bereavement.

But my mother was not deceased; she had passed into another phase of her life and a terrifying new reality.

She has been admitted on medical advice as a permanent resident in a secure care home for dementia patients.

She was too vulnerable to live alone any longer; there have been too many close shaves. Fire and flooding emergencies, that type of thing.

The home let us know that mum was serving her Covid-19 quarantine period in splendid isolation, in a large double bedroom, with staff keeping a careful watch 24 hours a day.

It was already sounding better than a miserable existence she lived as a lonely, confused and frightened widow of 88 in a tower block.

My wife and I visited her last summer and departed after 90 minutes filled with lively chat and laughter. But we were convinced she did not have a clue who we were.

It’s now the same with my brother. She is alive, but recognition of loved ones died as her memory retreated.

How do families keep their personal memories alive when those of their aged parents have evaporated?

She is lost in a grey lifeless world, but I will always cherish the vivid bright colours mum created in her prime when I was a small child.

My brother will not find any hidden old masters in her flat when he clears up.

But another masterpiece has helped me look at things in a different light.

It’s wonderful how symbolism in great art can be adapted to our own circumstances to bring comfort or hope where there is darkness.

Joseph Mallord William Turner’s “The Fighting Temeraire” is one of these.

Admiral Lord Nelson was the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar, but HMS Temeraire captured British hearts as the “heroine of Trafalgar”.

This Wednesday is the 215th anniversary of the battle. A third of Nelson’s crews and one-in-five of his captains were Scots.

Temeraire was a magnificent 98-gun ship which closely shadowed Nelson in his flagship Victory.

As Nelson led his fleet like twin arrows to attack the Franco-Spanish line Captain Eliab Harvey in Temeraire overtook him, much to his commander’s annoyance.

Nelson ordered him to get back into line astern of Victory, with a terse “know your station”.

It was just as well really because Nelson quickly became fatally entangled with one of the best French ships, Redoutable.

As he lay mortally wounded with the French trying to board their ultimate prize with axes and cutlasses, Temeraire fought its way to the rescue.

Harvey paralysed the French ship with a point blank broadside from his fearsome cannons and rammed it so it almost sank.

He also captured a second French ship as it attempted blow him out of the water from behind – and he saved Victory, too.

Sadly, about 30 years later, the Temeraire was being led up the River Thames like a horse to slaughter.

The great artist Turner was there to witness this poignant occasion as she headed to the breaker’s yard. It was supposed to be the end of her story.

She touched the hearts of so many people with her Trafalgar exploits that crowds lined the river to wish her well.

But she was a sad sight stripped of all her dignity – a relic from the era of sail being towed by a paddle steamer.

She was unrecognisable with every visible memory removed: masts, sails, cannons, or anything else which defined her character, had gone.

What Turner did next was a stroke of genius.

He took artistic licence to its limit by refusing to paint this shadow of her former self drifting past helplessly.

The paddle steamer was indeed pictured towing Temeraire, but he depicted the warship not as a lifeless shell.

She was painted in all her fighting glory as “the heroine of Trafalgar”.

What Turner did was to illustrate with haunting beauty what was in the mind’s eye of everyone watching because it was how they wanted to remember her.

So, we see Temeraire as a shimmering ethereal image in all her past splendour towering behind the little steamer.

I will always cherish the memory of mum in all her splendour as a loving, funny and gentle Irishwoman, always with a smile and kind word, and time for everyone – even complete strangers.

And I never forgot a valuable lesson she taught me at a very tender age after I was made “door monitor” at infant school.

I was in tears because I could not master opening the door and slotting its bolt into a hole in the floor, so everyone could file out of class.

Mum took me back at night when only the cleaners were still there – to practise with me until I got it right all on my own.

I was never the quickest learner, but she taught me how practice and preparation can overcome most challenges.

I will always love that about my mum and hope it never fades from my memory.