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

This study of boats was probably made in Dunbar Harbour, where Turner may have made another sketch of two boats at sail (folio 25 verso; D13368; CLXV 25a). This study shows one small boat with a single sailor, the oars shipped and the mast down. A more fully realised sketch of a similar boat is drawn directly in front of this and Turner has included its mast, though no sail, and has carefully drawn in the slats that make up the hull, and the plank benches. He has also shaded the inside of the vessel to indicate its concavity. The boat at the top of the page drawn from a bird’s-eye view is probably the same vessel as before, but viewed from this angle to record its internal layout. The shape above it may indicate the position of the boom, or it might just be an abandoned sketch. Turner made several other studies of boats on this trip (see Tour of Scotland 1818 Tour Introduction).