A Rain Cloud Breaking at Sea ?near Boulogne

1845

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Boulogne Sketchbook
Medium: Gouache, graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 230 x 326 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D35415
Turner Bequest CCCLVIII 13

Catalogue entry

Like folio 5 recto (D35408; Turner Bequest CCCLVIII 6), this sketch captures the appearance of storm clouds breaking over sea. Here a rocky cliff face and sea are picked out in delicate pinks and yellow washes, leaving it to the dense purple-brown cloud formations to assume the more substantial mass. Intense downpours are indicated by parallel downward strokes while highly saturated brush-strokes worked wet-on-wet describe the dark central formations of the rain cloud, ignoring or obscuring distinctions between land, sea and sky.

Verso:

Blank, except for patches of watercolour transferred from folio 13 recto opposite (D35416;
Turner Bequest CCCLVIII 14).

John Chu
November 2013

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