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 Study for a Picture of Boats on a Lee Shore c.1799-1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for a Picture of Boats on a Lee Shore’ c.1799-1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 51 Verso:
Study for a Picture of Boats on a Lee Shore c.1799–1805
D05002
Turner Bequest LXXXI 100
Ink, white chalk and pencil on blue laid paper, 436 x 271 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ and ‘VI’
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Lee Shore’ centre left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–100’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject is continued on folio 52 verso opposite (D05003; Turner Bequest LXXXI 101). The artist’s inscription appears to relate this drawing to the picture he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802, Fishermen upon a Lee–Shore, in Squally Weather (Southampton Art Gallery;1 see folios 43 verso–44 recto (D04986–D04987; Turner Bequest LXXXI 84–85), but he was thinking about another ‘lee shore’ subject in this sketchbook, as is testified in the inscription he added to the drawing on folios 44 verso–45 recto (D04988–D04989; Turner Bequest LXXXI 86–87), and it is possible that this study belongs with the later, ‘not painted’ work.
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.15–16 no.16, pl.12 (colour).
Technical notes:
The page is discoloured where ink from the recto (D05001; Turner Bequest LXXXI 99) has penetrated the paper.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Study for a Picture of Boats on a Lee Shore c.1799–1805 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-study-for-a-picture-of-boats-on-a-lee-shore-r1178206, accessed 18 April 2024.