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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Erotica and Improvisations c.1834-6 > Fishing at the Weir Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Crowd at a Fish Market c.1834-6

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Crowd at a Fish Market’ c.1834-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Verso:
A Crowd at a Fish Market c.1834–6
D27744
Turner Bequest CCLXXXI 11
Pencil on white wove paper, 79 x 101 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?fis]’ towards bottom left, and ‘Packing washing fish’ towards bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This rapid sketch of a crown of men and women shows a fish market, probably on a beach, as indicated by Turner’s written notes. Various figures sit beside or stoop over barrels or baskets, as in the figure study on folio 10 verso (D27743), presumably made on the same occasion. There are various such subjects and coastal views in the sketchbook, particularly towards the end, as set out in the Introduction.
The blank recto is numbered by John Ruskin in red ink ‘11’ and stamped ‘CCLXXXI – 11’; there is some slight watercolour offsetting.

Matthew Imms
April 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Crowd at a Fish Market c.1834–6 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-crowd-at-a-fish-market-r1149108, accessed 26 April 2024.