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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Folkestone and the Medway c.1821-2 > Medway Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner On the River Medway at Chatham, with Upnor Castle and a Hulk c.1821

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘On the River Medway at Chatham, with Upnor Castle and a Hulk’ c.1821
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 48 Recto:
On the River Medway at Chatham, with Upnor Castle and a Hulk c.1821
D17447
Turner Bequest CXCIX 48
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 190 mm
Stamped in black ‘CXCIX – 48’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As identified by Finberg, here Turner makes two of a significant number of drawings of Chatham evident throughout the present sketchbook.1
Of the two drawings, the example closest to the top of the sheet is characterised by a distinctive outline of Upnor Castle at its centre. Surrounded by undulating topography, there is also a brief indication of further buildings on the hillside behind. At left, vessels float in the water. For a comprehensive list of drawings in this sketchbook which describe the Castle, see the entry for folio 87 verso (D17501).
The bottom half of the sheet is occupied with a sketch which presumably takes the opposite bank of the Medway as its subject. The topography demonstrates a gentle slope from left towards the right. Angular buildings line the riverbank at centre. At left, a hulk floats on the water. It is briefly elaborated by a trio of masts and a smattering of gun ports along the hull.
For more information about Turner’s sketches of Chatham, see the entry for folio 22 recto (D17402).
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.608.
Verso:
Blank

Maud Whatley
January 2016

How to cite

Maud Whatley, ‘On the River Medway at Chatham, with Upnor Castle and a Hulk c.1821 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-on-the-river-medway-at-chatham-with-upnor-castle-and-a-hulk-r1184724, accessed 26 April 2024.