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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern France 1832 > Seine and Paris Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?A Sail 1832

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Sail’ 1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 97 Recto:
?A Sail 1832
D24073
Turner Bequest CCLIV 97
Pencil on white wove paper, 174 x 117 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘97’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ink ‘CCLIV – 97’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated, the shaky pencil marks clustered on the top half of this page suggest a drawing taken in adverse circumstances, perhaps onboard a moving boat. The long vertical strokes at the centre of the drawing appear to coalesce to form an unfurled sail of a ship. Certainly this volume is overwhelmingly concerned with the picturesque scenery that lines the Normandy banks of the Seine. See the sketchbook Introduction for an overview of these sites.

John Chu
July 2014

How to cite

John Chu, ‘?A Sail 1832 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 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-a-sail-r1173478, accessed 23 April 2024.