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 Fishermen Launching a Boat into Breakers, with Ships Beyond c.1801-2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Fishermen Launching a Boat into Breakers, with Ships Beyond’ c.1801-2
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 3 Recto:
Fishermen Launching a Boat into Breakers, with Ships Beyond c.1801–2
D03987
Turner Bequest LXVII 3
Pencil, ink and wash with scraping-out on white wove paper prepared with a grey-blue wash, 118 x 182 mm
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Without the F sail’ below right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram below left of centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘3’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LXVIII 4’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s annotation, recording the fact that the boat has no foresail set, gives proof if that were needed that these drawings were made on the spot, and are not, like the majority of the studies in the Calais Pier book (Tate; Turner Bequest LXXXI), for instance, inventions based at second hand on memory.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by Ruskin in pen and red ink ‘1168’.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Fishermen Launching a Boat into Breakers, with Ships Beyond 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-fishermen-launching-a-boat-into-breakers-with-ships-beyond-r1178292, accessed 26 April 2024.