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 Clouds over an Estuary ?with a Ship's Hulk c.1799-1802

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Clouds over an Estuary ?with a Ship's Hulk’ c.1799-1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 126 Recto:
Clouds over an Estuary ?with a Ship’s Hulk c.1799–1802
D04144
Turner Bequest LXIX 127
Pencil and gouache on blue laid paper, 135 x 210 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘127’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXIX-127’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, this is possibly one of a series that includes folios 3 recto and 12 recto (D03996, D04006), with pencil used as a tonal rather than a linear medium, and some white heightening. All appear to be views near the sea, though the geography differs in each. Here the flat landscape and the presence of a hulk suggest a location in the Thames Estuary.
Verso:
Offset from another page, perhaps not folio 127 recto opposite (D04145; Turner Bequest LXIX 128), suggesting that a different page may once have followed this one.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Clouds over an Estuary ?with a Ship’s Hulk 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-clouds-over-an-estuary-with-a-ships-hulk-r1178024, accessed 24 September 2024.