Prints and Drawings Room
View by appointment- Artist
- Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
- Part of
- Skies Sketchbook
- Medium
- Watercolour and gouache on paper
- Dimensions
- Support: 125 × 247 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
- Reference
- D12502
Turner Bequest CLVIII 54
Display caption
Turner gave this sketchbook the simple title, 'Skies'. The book contains sixty-five watercolour studies of clouds, sunsets and moonlight, which constitutes his most sustained attempt to set down his impressions of the perpetual flux of the sky. The contents of the book date from 1818, the year before Turner made his first trip to Italy, so we can assume that these are records of the skies above England. The vibrant, but subdued colours used for this study of the early evening sky may reflect the unusual atmospheric conditions which followed the explosion of Mount Tabora in 1815. In the ensuing years, huge amounts of volcanic dust hung in the air, causing great variations in the weather, and producing dramatic sunsets.
Gallery label, August 2004
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