Joseph Mallord William Turner

Boats and Figures

1824

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

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Not on display

Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 78 x 118 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D19608
Turner Bequest CCXVI 29

Catalogue entry

The principal drawing depicts Mosan locals tending to their riverboats and laying ropes out. The vessels appear to be equipped with pulleys to draw in fishing nets. A similar boat is depicted above, its mast and rigging continued on the folio opposite (Tate D19607; Turner Bequest CCXVI 28a). With the sketchbook turned in accordance with the foliation, Turner has made a cursory sketch of a group of women, inscribing one of the figure’s dresses with ‘Red’.

Alice Rylance-Watson
February 2014

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