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 > Calais Pier Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Boats in Rough Water at Calais, with Passengers Disembarking from the Packet c.1802

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Boats in Rough Water at Calais, with Passengers Disembarking from the Packet’ c.1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 39 Verso:
Boats in Rough Water at Calais, with Passengers Disembarking from the Packet c.1802
D04978
Turner Bequest LXXXI 76
Black and white chalks on blue laid paper, 436 x 271 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ and ‘VI’
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Do’ towards top left, descending vertically
Inscribed in ink ‘Out’ bottom left
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–76’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawing is continued on folio 40 recto opposite (D04979; Turner Bequest LXXXI 77). It is one of a series of studies in this book devoted to the theme of Turner’s landing at Calais; see under folio 30 verso (D04960; Turner Bequest LXXXI 58). Turner’s ‘Do’ (for ‘Ditto’) here refers to the inscription on folio 38 verso (D04976; Tuner Bequest LXXXI 74), ‘My Landing at Calais’.

It is possible that Turner simply wished to recreate for himself a scene that had left a strong impression on him, but he may have been considering the subject as a theme for the big marine painting that in the event became Calais Pier, with French Poissards Preparing for Sea: An English Packet Arriving, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1803 (National Gallery, London).1 That shows the packet arriving but does not deal with the drama of the landing itself.
1
Butlin and Joll 1984, pp.37–8 no.48, pl.58 (colour).
Technical notes:
The discolouration of this page is owing to the recto (D04977; Turner Bequest LXXXI 75) being selected for prolonged display in nineteenth century, when the leaf was extracted.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Boats in Rough Water at Calais, with Passengers Disembarking from the Packet c.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-boats-in-rough-water-at-calais-with-passengers-disembarking-r1178182, accessed 25 April 2024.