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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Thames, London and South of England 1821 ... > Thames Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Studies of Clouds ?at Sunset c.1825

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Studies of Clouds ?at Sunset’ c.1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Verso:
Studies of Clouds ?at Sunset c.1825
D18601
Turner Bequest CCXII 4a
Pencil on white wove paper, 118 x 114 mm
Part watermark ‘Al | 18’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Red’ towards top left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, there are two similar and presumably successive studies here, each showing a cloudy sky with a small disk near the horizon. The note of ‘Red’ in the second study, where there is also a slight indication of a building on the skyline towards the right, suggests that these are typically rapid impressions of moments towards sunset.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Studies of Clouds ?at Sunset c.1825 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-studies-of-clouds-at-sunset-r1172718, accessed 17 May 2024.