J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Copy-Drawings 1794-8 > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Group of Fishing Boats in an Estuary ?1798

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Group of Fishing Boats in an Estuary’ ?1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
A Group of Fishing Boats in an Estuary ?1798
D01905
Turner Bequest XLIV c
Pencil and watercolour on white cartridge paper, 255 x 330 mm laid on another sheet, 254 x 334 mm
Stamped in black ‘XLIV – a’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg considered1 that this drawing, like Tate D01904 (Turner Bequest XLIV b), was related to Turner’s painting Harlech Castle, from Twgwyn Ferry, Summer’s Evening Twilight, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799, (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven).2 The two do seem to be connected, though the castle itself does not appear in this design, and it does not replicate any features of the picture. Despite being in colour, it is altogether more tentative than D01904, having more of the character of a study and less that of a copy-drawing, but it is catalogued here as being evidently related.
1
MS note, Tate catalogue files.
2
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.6–7 no.9, pl.8 (colour).
Technical notes:
The bleach-marks at top left are probably attempts to remove foxing which is still apparent on the verso of the backing sheet.
Verso:
Blank; stained and dirty; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Group of Fishing Boats in an Estuary ?1798 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-group-of-fishing-boats-in-an-estuary-r1140073, accessed 24 April 2024.