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 (2) Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Barges and Boats on the Thames 1805

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Barges and Boats on the Thames’ 1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Recto:
Barges and Boats on the Thames 1805
D05862
Turner Bequest XCIV 11
Pencil on white wove paper, prepared with a grey wash, 143 x 228 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘11’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XCIV 10’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg further described this slight sketch as a ‘Study for one of the Petworth pictures’ and his identification of the subject as Windsor Castle suggests that he had in mind Near the Thames Lock, Windsor Castle exhibited in Turner’s Gallery, 1809 (Tate T03877; displayed at Petworth House).1 However there seems no such connection and the sketch probably belongs with others, in a similar cursory style, depicting the Thames at Richmond on the verso and folio 12 (05863, D05864). Hill suggests the sketch might continue as if to left or right on folio 10 verso (D05861).

David Blayney Brown
December 2007

1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.65–6 no.88 (pl.98).

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Barges and Boats on the Thames 1805 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 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-barges-and-boats-on-the-thames-r1130085, accessed 20 April 2024.