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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > French Tour 1821 > Paris, Seine and Dieppe Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Drum; Group of Figures on Coast Preparing for Sea; Man Chopping Wood 1821

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Drum; Group of Figures on Coast Preparing for Sea; Man Chopping Wood’ 1821
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 26 Verso:
A Drum; Group of Figures on Coast Preparing for Sea; Man Chopping Wood 1821
D18564
Turner Bequest CCXI 26a
Pencil on white wove paper, 189 x 113 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Preparing for sea | Man chopping wood: and [?]tally [...]’ across upper part of the page; the second figure from the left is inscribed ‘R’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At the head of the page is a sketch of men crouched as if pulling a boat, inscribed ‘preparing for sea’ by Turner. The masts of several vessels can be seen above their heads. There are two further figures at the right. For references to figure studies made during this tour see Tate D24503 (Turner Bequest CCLVIII 2v).
The larger sketch on the page, drawn with the book rotated to the right, depicts a drum with a shield on it. This may be the same drum that Turner referred to as a rough outline and inscription in his study of a display of Civil War relics on a sideboard at Farnley Hall on folio 7 (Tate D18534; Turner Bequest).

Thomas Ardill
March 2013

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘A Drum; Group of Figures on Coast Preparing for Sea; Man Chopping Wood 1821 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-drum-group-of-figures-on-coast-preparing-for-sea-man-r1146260, accessed 26 April 2024.