Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Woman Leaning on the Hull of a Beached Boat, with Other Figures

c.1826–40

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium: Chalk, gouache and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 140 × 192 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D24620
Turner Bequest CCLIX 55

Catalogue entry

A woman in a pink dress and white bonnet and perhaps two male companions are apparently leaning against a beached boat while conversing, with the proprietorial air of locals rather than visitors. See the Introduction for examples of scenes with fishermen and women.

As discussed there, this is one of the subjects of figures by the sea which Ian Warrell tentatively suggested as linked to Brighton around 1827, while noting that they could equally well show scenes in England or France on other occasions.1

See Warrell 1989, pp.120, 123 note 114.

Verso:

Blank; inscribed by John Ruskin in pencil ‘311 | O’ bottom right; inscribed in pencil ‘54–68’ top right; inscribed in pencil ‘D24620’ top centre, upside down. There is a border of white paper or tape, indicating that the sheet was formerly mounted.

Matthew Imms
December 2015

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