Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with Figures in the Water

c.1801–2

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
On a Lee Shore (2) Sketchbook
Medium
Ink and graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 118 × 182 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D03986
Turner Bequest LXVIII 2

Catalogue entry

In this drawing Turner reverts to the theme of maritime catastrophe that he had explored in the On a Lee Shore (1) sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest LXVII). This appears to be a different vessel from that swamped in breakers Tate D03980 and D03982 (Turner Bequest LXVII 6, 7) in that book; it has two sails like the boat on Tate D03977 (Turner Bequest LXVII 4) there.
Technical notes:
The page is faded and discoloured from prolonged exposure. Here Turner begins to exploit the middle tone of the grey-blue paper by scraping to reveal the white paper support, a technique that heightens the rendering of turbulent seas on the rectos of folios 3, 4 and 5, and folios 5 verso–6 recto (D03987–D03991).
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by Ruskin in pen and red ink ‘1171’.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

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