Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Sailing Boat at Sea with Blustery Clouds

c.1823–6

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Not on display

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Studies for Possible ‘Little Liber’ Compositions
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 222 × 293 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D35926
Turner Bequest CCCLXIV 83

Catalogue entry

Although Finberg places this work in one of his later portmanteau sections of separate sheets in his 1909 Inventory, he noted that it was perhaps ‘earlier than 1830’.1 It is dated here in line with the period of the ‘Little Liber’ series, by comparison with the maritime subject, light tones and dynamic, loose handling of one of the canonical watercolour designs, Ship in a Storm (Tate D25432; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 309a). See also Tate D25339 and D36317 (Turner Bequest CCLXIII 217, CCCLXV 27a) in the present subsection.

Finberg 1909, II, p.1182.

Technical notes:

The right-hand edge is irregular. The surface is somewhat soiled towards the left and the bottom.

Verso:

Blank, save for ochre and red test strokes of watercolour at the bottom right.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

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