Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
An Anchor; Floating Buoys 1827
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 192 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[...R]’ towards centre right, on end of buoy
These separate studies show an anchor apparently lying on dry land or at least a flat surface, and two contrasting styles of buoy floating in water: one with a conical end and the other in the form of a barrel. The latter may be the same object as that shown in less detail on folio 21 recto (
D20628; Turner Bequest CCXXVI 20). As discussed in the technical notes below, this leaf was formerly separated from the sketchbook, perhaps to display these careful studies, though no specific occasion is recorded.
This incidental nautical paraphernalia may have been observed at or around Cowes. For more on studies in this sketchbook relating to the regatta events at Cowes from late July 1827 onwards, see the Introduction.
This leaf was not mentioned except in terms of its absence in Finberg’s 1909
Inventory, when he noted a ‘Leaf torn out’ at this point.
1 He subsequently identified the page (re)inserted here as ‘[folio 52] c. Anchor and floating buoys’, among ‘3 leaves found after Invy. was printed’
2 (see the concordance in the Introduction).
Matthew Imms
November 2015
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘An Anchor; Floating Buoys 1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-an-anchor-floating-buoys-r1183323, accessed 29 March 2024.