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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Thames sketchbooks c.1804-14 > Hesperides (1) Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study for a Sea-Piece c.1805-6

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for a Sea-Piece’ c.1805-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 17 Recto:
Study for a Sea-Piece circa 1805–6
D05792
Turner Bequest XCIII 17
Pen and ink and brown wash on white wove paper, prepared with a grey wash, 171 x 262 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘17’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XCIII 17’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Butlin and Joll, followed by Hill, reject Finberg’s suggestion that this Thames estuary marine is a study for Guardship at the Great Nore, Sheerness, &c exhibited at Turner’s Gallery in 1809 (private collection), there being no specific similarities.1 As Hill also observes, the composition reverses that in the more finished watercolour study on pseudo folio 11 ([originally 41], D05838). It is made largely in wash over minimal outline, in contrast to the ink study of shipping on folio 16 (D05791) and the quicker outline jottings on the verso and folio 18 and verso (D05793–D05795).

David Blayney Brown
October 2007

1
Butlin and Joll 1984, pp.67–8 no.91 (pl.101).

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Study for a Sea-Piece c.1805–6 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2007, 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-study-for-a-sea-piece-r1130014, accessed 19 April 2024.