In Tate Britain
Prints and Drawings Room
View by appointment- Artist
- Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
- Medium
- Gouache, graphite and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- Support: 201 x 271 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
- Reference
- D00889
Turner Bequest XXXIII R
Display caption
Shipping seen in profile against the horizon was a favourite pictorial device inherited from Dutch marine painting. Britain’s military strength and commercial prosperity was, like that of the Netherlands, founded on its naval prowess and the British shared the Dutch enthusiasm for paintings of ships on the ocean. Turner’s early sea pictures nearly always integrate ships or boats into the composition.
The wooden structure in the foreground is a groyne, a protective device built between the shore and the sea to prevent the beach from washing away.
Gallery label, April 2005
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Catalogue entry
Explore
- architecture(42,289)
- townscapes / man-made features(22,285)
- breakwater(70)
- townscapes / man-made features(22,285)
- nature(46,524)
- seascapes and coasts(8,331)
- society(35,456)
- transport: water(8,432)
- ship, sailing(1,448)
- transport: water(8,432)
You might like
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Two-Masted Sailing Ship Seen from the Shore
c.1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sailing Ship Foundering in Heavy Seas, Seen from Above
1796–7
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sailing Ship Foundering in Heavy Seas, Seen from Above
1796–7
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Group of Ships Riding at Anchor, Seen from the Shore
c.1801–2
Joseph Mallord William Turner Waves Breaking on Shore with a Sailing Boat
1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner Waves Breaking on Shore with a Sailing Boat
1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner Waves Breaking on Shore with a Sailing Vessel on the Horizon
1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of Three Sailing Ships
1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sailing Vessel and Rocks Seen from the Shore
1801
Joseph Mallord William Turner Beached Boats, with Ships at Sea Seen from the Shore
c.1799–1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sailing Ship
c.1799–1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sailing Ship
c.1799–1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sailing Ship
c.1799–1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner Sailing Ships
c.1799–1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Lighthouse Seen from the Shore
1796