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 Women and Children Paddling on a Beach c.1826-40

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Women and Children Paddling on a Beach’ c.1826-40
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Women and Children Paddling on a Beach c.1826–40
D24797
Turner Bequest CCLIX 232
Gouache and watercolour on blue wove paper, 137 x 190 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram below right of centre
Inscribed in red ink ‘232’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLIX 232’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With their dresses drawn up to their knees, these children and older girls or women appear to be paddling on a beach (see the Introduction for other examples of such recreational scenes). One seems to be wearing a bonnet with a long feather like that in Tate D24798 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 233).
As discussed in the Introduction, this is one of the subjects of figures by the sea 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 in pencil ‘232’ top left; inscribed in pencil ‘D.24797’ bottom left. There is a border of white paper or tape, indicating that the sheet was formerly mounted.

Matthew Imms
December 2015

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Women and Children Paddling on a Beach 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-women-and-children-paddling-on-a-beach-r1182579, accessed 26 April 2024.