Joseph Mallord William Turner

Clouds and Rain over Water

c.1820–40

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Colour Studies of Clouds, Storms and a Rainbow
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 307 × 487 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D25202
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 80

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The Turner Bequest includes more than four hundred watercolours sketches which have been catalogued as 'Colour Beginnings' (i.e TB CCLXIII). While some of these works have been identified as preparatory ideas, or 'beginnings', for other pictures, many are actually studies of the sky, such as this memorandum of a group of rolling cumulus. Turner is unlikely to have painted these out of doors, and most probably produced them in batches in his studio, using them as a means of testing his skills in watercolour.

Gallery label, August 2004

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