Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Sunset or Sunrise ?over Water

c.1823–4

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Old London Bridge Sketchbook
Medium
Watercolour on paper
Dimensions
Support: 98 x 162 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D17887
Turner Bequest CCV 31

Catalogue entry

This elemental study suggests a sunset or sunrise beneath lowering clouds over a watery landscape, with the sun’s reflection lifted out of the wet foreground, leaving finger prints. Vertical strokes dragged through the horizontal bands at the right evoke tall trees. There is a very slight, inadvertent continuation on folio 30 verso opposite (D40964). This is one of a sequence of fourteen monochrome, tonal studies of landscapes and cloudy skies running from about the middle of the sketchbook onwards; for the others and further discussion, see the Introduction.
Verso:
Blank, save for slight continuations of wash strokes from folio 32 recto (D17888).1

Matthew Imms
December 2014

1
See Gerald Wilkinson, Turner’s Colour Sketches 1820–34, London 1975, p.27, where the relevant few millimetres are reproduced with D17888.

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sunrise (or Sunset)’ c.1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunrise (or Sunset)

c.1824
View by appointment D18332
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sunrise (or Sunset)’ c.1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunrise (or Sunset)

c.1824
View by appointment D18331
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Sunrise’ c.1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Sunrise

c.1824
View by appointment D18465
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Sunset over a Lake or River’ c.1823–4

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sunset over a Lake or River

c.1823–4
View by appointment D17900
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Sunset’ c.1823–4

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?A Sunset

c.1823–4
View by appointment D17876
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Sunset’ c.1823–4

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?A Sunset

c.1823–4
View by appointment D17878
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Sunset or Sunrise ?over Water’ c.1823–4

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sunset or Sunrise ?over Water

c.1823–4
View by appointment D40964
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Sunset’ c.1823–4

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?A Sunset

c.1823–4
View by appointment D17874
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sunrise (?Sunset)’ c.1841

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunrise (?Sunset)

c.1841
View by appointment D33409
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘High Clouds at Dawn or Sunset’ c.1815–30

Joseph Mallord William Turner High Clouds at Dawn or Sunset

c.1815–30
View by appointment D25259
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sunrise over Plain, with Figures’ c.1830

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunrise over Plain, with Figures

c.1830
View by appointment D24824
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sunrise over Distant Town. (?French)’ c.1830

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunrise over Distant Town. (?French)

c.1830
View by appointment D24805
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sky Studies towards Sunset or Sunrise’ c.1823–4

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sky Studies towards Sunset or Sunrise

c.1823–4
View by appointment D17773
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sunset or Dawn above a Landscape with Water’ c.1826–40

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunset or Dawn above a Landscape with Water

c.1826–40
View by appointment D29026
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Sunrise or Sunset over the Channel’ 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Sunrise or Sunset over the Channel

1845
View by appointment D35578