Turner, 'The Fighting Temeraire', 1839
First place with 31,892 votes (27%)
The Temeraire was a warship sold by the Royal Navy for scrap at the end of an illustrious career. Turner paints her last moments, contrasting the ghostly apparition of the ship’s decaying hulk with the black silhouette of the steam tug that pulls her.
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John Constable, The Hay Wain, 1821
Second place with 21,711 votes
This painting, with it's harmonious composition and tranquil subject matter, has come to epitomise Constable's utopian vision of the countryside.
Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergere, 1882
Third place with 13,218 votes
A barmaid stands in front of a mirror, staring blankly out into the bar of the popular Paris nightclub the Folies-Bergère. In a clever twist, the viewer is put in the position of her customer as we see from the mirror’s reflection that she is in fact serving a mysterious, top-hatted gentleman. The barmaid’s enigmatic expression is as inscrutable as the Mona Lisa’s while Manet’s mastery of fast Impressionist-style brushwork makes it a technical masterpiece.
The Arnolfini Marriage, 1436 by Jan van Eyck
Fourth place with 11,298 votes
The picture is a dazzling example of van Eyck’s mastery of perspective, complex use of symbolism and vivid palette. The conceit, and mystery, of the extra figures in the room, reflected in the convex mirror but unseen in the main image, add to the painting’s fascination.
William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress III: 'The Orgy', 1733-34
Last with 3,999 votes
Hogarth revels in the hedonism he denigrates, producing a glorious, seething canvas filled with mini-narratives and larger-than-life characters.