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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > History Painting c.1799-1807 > Studies for Pictures Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Sailing Boats c.1799-1802

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Sailing Boats’ c.1799-1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 7 Recto:
Two Sailing Boats c.1799–1802
D04001
Turner Bequest LXIX 7
Ink on blue laid paper, 135 x 210 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘7’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXIX-7’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Made with the page turned horizontally, this rapid sketch notes the patterns made by set sails as they pass across each other, a motif that recurs in Turner’s marines of this period, notably in Dutch Boats in a Gale: Fishermen Endeavouring to Put their Fish on Board (‘The Bridgewater Seapiece’) of 1801 (private collection, on long loan to the National Gallery, London)1 and Ships Bearing Up for Anchorage (‘The Egremont Seapiece’) of 1802 (Tate T03868, on display at Petworth House, Sussex).2 Compare the slightly more developed sketch on folio 128 verso (D04148; Turner Bequest LXIX 129a).
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.12–13 no.14, pl.11 (colour).
2
Ibid., p.17 no.18, pl.14 (colour).
Verso:
Blank

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Two Sailing Boats c.1799–1802 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-two-sailing-boats-r1177878, accessed 26 April 2024.