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 Hulks on the River Medway c.1821

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Hulks on the River Medway’ c.1821
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 79 Verso:
Hulks on the River Medway c.1821
D17488
Turner Bequest CXCIX 79a
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 190 mm
Partial watermark ‘nard | 20’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘4’ and ‘4’ at right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As articulated by Finberg, Turner here applies significant and detailed attention to a group of vessels, producing drawings across this and the facing page on folio 80 recto (D17489).1 The Medway identification is provoked by the topographic focus of this sketchbook.
At the centre of the sheet, Turner describes in detail the stern of a hulk. Rich with elaborative pencil work, the maritime architecture is revealed from the top of the rudder to the windows of the galleries. The hull of the ship extends diagonally away towards the left, marked with two gun ports but left largely unelaborated until the curve of the bow.
At right, the bow of a hulk is described to larger proportions. This drawing straddles the gutter, composed across both the present page and facing sheet. The portion visible here stretches from the tip of the bowsprit to the middle of the hull, which is split immediately before the mainmast. Four rows of gun ports pierce the timber hull and an elaborate figurehead in indicated beneath the heel of the bowsprit. The foremast extends from the deck, running upwards parallel with the gutter.
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.609.
Technical notes:
A small tear which encroaches onto this sheet from the left edge has been fixed. The paper is marked with the fibrous residue of the adhesive used.

Maud Whatley
January 2016

How to cite

Maud Whatley, ‘Hulks on the River Medway 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-hulks-on-the-river-medway-r1184766, accessed 20 September 2024.