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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales and Isle of Wight 1795-1800 > Isle of Wight Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Rock in the Sea, with the Sun (or Moon) among Clouds 1795

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Rock in the Sea, with the Sun (or Moon) among Clouds’ 1795
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Recto:
A Rock in the Sea, with the Sun (or Moon) among Clouds 1795
D00448
Turner Bequest XXIV 40
Pencil on white wove paper, 204 x 264 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXIV 40’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
A very slight sketch, difficult to interpret, this is possibly connected with the oil painting Fishermen at Sea of 1796 (Tate T01585).1 The rock might be one of the Needles, a string of pointed rocks in the sea off Alum Bay at the westernmost tip of the Isle of Wight; they appear in the background of Fishermen at Sea. Since the painting is a night piece, it is possible that the indication of a disc among clouds here represents the moon rather than the sun. See also folio 43 recto (D00450; Turner Bequest XXIV 42).
The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally.
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.1–2 no.1, pl.1 (colour).
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Rock in the Sea, with the Sun (or Moon) among Clouds 1795 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-rock-in-the-sea-with-the-sun-or-moon-among-clouds-r1141026, accessed 25 April 2024.