Joseph Mallord William Turner

Coastal Terrain

c.1820–30

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 313 × 432 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D25137
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 15

Catalogue entry

This is one of a large number of sketches on loose sheets of paper depicting coastal terrain and seagoing vessels in various combinations. Turner specialist Eric Shanes has suggested a connection between this particular study and the oil painting The Evening Star (National Gallery, London).1 For the grouping and dating of these works to the middle and later periods of Turner’s career, see the section introduction.

Eric Shanes, Turner’s Watercolour Explorations 1810–1842, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p.100.

Technical Notes:

Tears along the right-hand edge of the sheet.

Verso:

Small patches of watercolour across the sheet.

John Chu
June 2015

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