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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Sun Reflected on the Sea ?near Boulogne 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
The Sun Reflected on the Sea ?near Boulogne 1845
D35395
Turner Bequest CCCLVII 10
Gouache, pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 238 x 325 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘10’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLVII 10’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As in the preceding three works as originally constituted in the sketchbook (D35392–D35394; Turner Bequest CCCLVII 7–9), this page seeks to catch the effect of a low sun reflected on the sea. With rather more precision than in those cases, the globe of the sun and its long reflection on the water are ‘lifted off’ from the surrounding washes. Particular attention has been paid to the form and position of scudding clouds, vividly tinted dark pink, ochre, and grey-blue.
On the other side of this sheet is D35396 (Turner Bequest CCCLVII 10a), which is inscribed with the Tate accession number ‘D35395’ referring to the present sketch.

John Chu
December 2013

How to cite

John Chu, ‘The Sun Reflected on the Sea ?near Boulogne 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2013, 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-the-sun-reflected-on-the-sea-near-boulogne-r1173494, accessed 28 March 2024.