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 (2) Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with Figures in the Water c.1801-2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with Figures in the Water’ c.1801-2
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 2 Recto:
A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with Figures in the Water c.1801–2
D03986
Turner Bequest LXVII 2
Pencil, ink and wash with scraping-out 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 ‘2’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LXVIII 2’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In this drawing Turner reverts to the theme of maritime catastrophe that he had explored in the On a Lee Shore (1) sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest LXVII). This appears to be a different vessel from that swamped in breakers Tate D03980 and D03982 (Turner Bequest LXVII 6, 7) in that book; it has two sails like the boat on Tate D03977 (Turner Bequest LXVII 4) there.
Technical notes:
The page is faded and discoloured from prolonged exposure. Here Turner begins to exploit the middle tone of the grey-blue paper by scraping to reveal the white paper support, a technique that heightens the rendering of turbulent seas on the rectos of folios 3, 4 and 5, and folios 5 verso–6 recto (D03987–D03991).
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by Ruskin in pen and red ink ‘1171’.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with Figures in the Water 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-figures-in-the-water-r1178291, accessed 19 April 2024.