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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Marine subjects c.1803-14 > Spithead Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Men-of-War 1807

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Men-of-War’ 1807
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 29 Recto:
Men-of-War 1807
D06547
Turner Bequest C 28
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 118 x 187 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘28’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘C 28’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As they are sailing in beezy conditions these ships are probably off Spithead rather than in Portsmouth harbour as Finberg described them. He related this sketch to Turner’s Spithead: Boat’s Crew Recovering an Anchor (Tate N00481),1 for which see the Introduction to this sketchbook. The ships may include prizes from the Danish fleet, seized by the British at Copenhagen; also see Introduction for the historical background. There is a very slight continuation of this sketch, probably representing a single mast, on folio 28 verso (D40610).

David Blayney Brown
May 2006

1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.60–1 no.80 (pl.90).

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Men-of-War 1807 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2006, 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-men-of-war-r1139073, accessed 20 September 2024.