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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Spring Tour of Northern France 1845 > Boulogne Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Jetty and Large Ship ?near Boulogne 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Jetty and Large Ship ?near Boulogne’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 6 Recto:
A Jetty and Large Ship ?near Boulogne 1845
D35409
Turner Bequest CCCLVIII 7
Gouache, pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 230 x 326 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘7’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLVIII 7’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This pencil sketch of a wide sweeping bay and a roughly scratched group of foreground figures has been enhanced by a confusion of bold watercolour strokes in indistinct evocation of maritime forms. A wash of lilac, some dashes of ochre gouache, and a smoke-like ascent of a fresh blue pigment create a dynamic and vividly coloured sky. The masts of a tall ship break the horizon. Less distinct is regular row of purple-brown dabs which may represent the buttresses of the blue pier that terminates at the centre of the page with a squat vertical stroke.
Verso:
Blank, except for a dash of pink and small areas of transference towards the binding from folio 7 recto opposite (D35410; Turner Bequest CCCLVIII 8).

John Chu
November 2013

How to cite

John Chu, ‘A Jetty and Large Ship ?near Boulogne 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-a-jetty-and-large-ship-near-boulogne-r1173510, accessed 26 April 2024.