'Sailing Boat off Blythe Sands', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Sailing Boat off Blythe Sands

From Edinburgh Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CCLXVIII

Date 1834

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 111 x 181 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D26132

Turner Bequest CCLXVIII 20

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Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Edinburgh Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 20 Recto:

Sailing Boat off Blythe Sands 1834

D26132
Turner Bequest CCLXVIII 20

Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 181 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘nw’ top left and ‘Blyth Sands’ top
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘20’ bottom left descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVIII – 20’ bottom left descending vertically

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

This sketch depicts a vessel sailing past the Blythe Sands mudflats in the Thames estuary. Turner’s inscription ‘NW’ either suggests that this is a view to the north-west from Blythe Sands towards Canvey Island, or that the view is of Blythe Sands from the north-west. Two basket-shaped structures on poles to the right of the boat mark the end of groynes. There are further sketches of the mouth of the Thames on folio 2 verso (D26098), which were probably made on a steamboat journey from London to Margate.

Turner had exhibited a painting of fishing boats off Blythe Sands at his own gallery in 1809; Fishing upon the Blythe-Sand (Tate N00496).1 This sketch has a similar composition to that painting, but in reverse.

There is a small brown stain at the top left of the page.

Thomas Ardill
January 2011

Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.65 no.87.

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.