J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Figures on a Beach c.1826-45 > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Luggage or Cargo on a Beach, with Houses and a Cart and Boats in the Distance c.1826-40

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Luggage or Cargo on a Beach, with Houses and a Cart and Boats in the Distance’ c.1826-40
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Luggage or Cargo on a Beach, with Houses and a Cart and Boats in the Distance c.1826–40
D24790
Turner Bequest CCLIX 225
Gouache on blue wove paper, 140 x 191 mm
Inscribed by Turner in gouache ‘CW’ and with other letters on items in the lower foreground
Inscribed in red ink ‘225’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘225’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The heap on the beach in the foreground appears to comprise baskets and bales, parcels or sacks, and may be luggage for a sea voyage or items of cargo. A horse-drawn cart presumably there to convey them is shown further off, with boats in the bay beyond. For scenes of passengers awaiting embarkation, see the Introduction.
As discussed there, this is one of the seaside subjects which Ian Warrell tentatively suggested as linked to Brighton around 1827, while noting that they could equally well show scenes in England or France on other occasions.1
1
See Warrell 1989, pp.120, 123 note 114.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by John Ruskin in pencil ‘232 | O’ top left, upside down.

Matthew Imms
December 2015

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Luggage or Cargo on a Beach, with Houses and a Cart and Boats in the Distance c.1826–40 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-luggage-or-cargo-on-a-beach-with-houses-and-a-cart-and-boats-r1182577, accessed 25 April 2024.