'Vignette Study for 'The Andes Coast', for Campbell's 'Poetical Works'', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Vignette Study for 'The Andes Coast', for Campbell's 'Poetical Works'

From Watercolours Related to The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell

Date c.1835-36

MediumGraphite and watercolour on paper

Dimensionssupport: 243 x 317 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D27528

Turner Bequest CCLXXX 11

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

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Vignette Study for ‘The Andes Coast’, for Campbell’s ‘Poetical Works’ circa 1835–36

D27528
Turner Bequest CCLXXX 11

Pencil and watercolour, approximately 150 x 210 mm on white paper, 242 x 317 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘(11’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXX 11’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

This watercolour sketch is a preparatory study for Turner’s finished vignette, The Andes Coast, circa 1835 (National Gallery of Scotland), which he designed to accompany part of Thomas Campbell’s poem, ‘The Pleasures of Hope’.1 The illustration was engraved by Edward Goodall and published in Edward Moxon’s 1837 edition of Campbell’s Poetical Works.2 It shows a small ship making its way on a choppy sea, guided by the light of a radiant moon. This study is related to the background of the scene and its mountainous coastline, craggy cliffs, wispy clouds and pink and blue palette reappear in the final version.

There are seven other watercolour studies in the Turner Bequest that appear to relate to The Andes Coast (see Tate D27524; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 7). However, this is the only design to focus specifically on the background element of the composition. Despite the similarities in content and palette, several features such as the absence of a ship and the inclusion of a blazing sun, set it apart from the finished design and the other preparatory sketches.

Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, no.1272; reproduced in colour in Mungo Campbell, A Complete Catalogue of Works by Turner in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh 1993, p.55.

W.G. Rawlinson, The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., vol.II, London 1913, no.614. There is one impression in Tate’s collection (T04766).

Verso:

Inscribed by unknown hands in pencil ‘AB 144 P.O’ and ‘CCLXXX 11’ and ‘Box 99’ and ‘Nos 1–25’ bottom right. Also in red ink ‘1074’ bottom left

Meredith Gamer
August 2006

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.