Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Fishing Boat among Breakers, with the Crew Disembarking

c.1801–2

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
On a Lee Shore (1) 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
D03977
Turner Bequest LXVII 4

Catalogue entry

This is one of a number of studies in this sketchbook illustrating the difficulties of launching or beaching a small boat on a lee shore, the inherently dramatic confrontation of men and nature that animates Turner’s painting Fishermen upon a Lee-Shore, in Squally Weather, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802 (Southampton Art Gallery).1 The drawing on folio 5 recto (D03978) possesses more elements in common with the picture than this one, though a boat with both sails set is visible in the distance in the painting.
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.15–16 no.16, pl.12 (colour).
Verso:
Blank

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

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