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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Brighton and Copies from Wilson 1796-7 > Studies near Brighton Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Clouds over Water: Moonlight 1796

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Clouds over Water: Moonlight’ 1796
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 88 Verso:
Clouds over Water: Moonlight 1796
D00828
Turner Bequest XXX 87
Wash and gouache on blue laid paper, 108 x 126 mm
The nocturnal theme echoes that of Turner’s first exhibited oil paintings, shown at the Royal Academy in 1796 and 1797: Fishermen at Sea (Tate T01585)1 and Moonlight, a Study at Millbank (Tate N00459).2
Finberg appears to have recorded this subject as the recto; see the Technical notes to the sketchbook’s Introduction. The blank recto is stamped in brown ink with the Turner Bequest monogram, inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘87’ and stamped in black ‘XXX 87’ at the bottom right.

Andrew Wilton
May 2011

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).
2
Ibid., p.2 no.2, pl.2 (colour).

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Clouds over Water: Moonlight 1796 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-clouds-over-water-moonlight-r1149778, accessed 20 September 2024.