'A Sailing Ship on a River between Rocky Cliffs', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

A Sailing Ship on a River between Rocky Cliffs

From Drawings and Watercolours Connected with the Welsh and Marches Tours

Date ?1792-3

MediumGraphite and watercolour on paper

Dimensionssupport: 215 x 248 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Reference

D00390

Turner Bequest XXIII P

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

A Sailing Ship on a River between Rocky Cliffs ?1792–3

D00390
Turner Bequest XXIII P

Pencil and watercolour on thin white card, 215 x 248 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘XXIII.P’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘XXIII P’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

This is perhaps a view in the Avon Gorge (compare the drawing in the Bristol and Malmesbury sketchbook, Tate D00107; Turner Bequest VI 24); but it is not compatible stylistically with the drawings made at Bristol in 1791. It is more probably a view on the River Wye, perhaps near Symonds Yat, deriving from the 1792 tour. Another study of what is probably the same boat is on the verso of this sheet (D40242).

There are blue and ochre colour trials in the lower left corner.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

Read this catalogue entry in full

This catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012.