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 Sailing Vessels c.1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sailing Vessels’ c.1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 89 Recto:
Sailing Vessels c.1825
D18700
Turner Bequest CCXII 89
Pencil on white wove paper, 188 x 114 mm
Part watermark ‘Al | 18’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘89’ top right, ascending vertically [now very faint]
Stamped in black ‘CCXII – 89’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, at the top and bottom are studies of large two-masted sailing boats, while in the middle the sails of at least two craft are shown in close juxtaposition. There is no indication of a wider context, but they may have been observed on the River Thames, the setting for many drawings in this sketchbook (see in particular folio 81 verso; D18691), or possibly in connection with Turner’s Low Countries tour of August 1825; see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Sailing Vessels 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-sailing-vessels-r1172819, accessed 23 April 2024.