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 > On a Lee Shore (1) Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with the Crew Disembarking c.1801-2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with the Crew Disembarking’ c.1801-2
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Recto:
A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with the Crew Disembarking c.1801–2
D03977
Turner Bequest LXVII 4
Ink on white wove paper prepared with a grey-blue wash, 118 x 182 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘4’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LXVII 4’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of a number of studies in this sketchbook illustrating the difficulties of launching or beaching a small boat on a lee shore, the inherently dramatic confrontation of men and nature that animates Turner’s painting Fishermen upon a Lee-Shore, in Squally Weather, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802 (Southampton Art Gallery).1 The drawing on folio 5 recto (D03978) possesses more elements in common with the picture than this one, though a boat with both sails set is visible in the distance in the painting.
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).
Verso:
Blank

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with the Crew Disembarking c.1801–2 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-a-fishing-boat-among-breakers-with-the-crew-disembarking-r1178281, accessed 25 April 2024.