Joseph Mallord William Turner

Finberg compared this to Turner’s ‘Picture of “Danish ships entering Portsmouth Harbour” in Turner’s studio, May, 1808’, by which he meant Spithead: Boat’s Crew Recovering an Anchor (Tate N00481),1 for which see the Introduction to the sketchbook. In fact there seems no particularly close connection beyond Turner’s general observation of Danish ships that had been seized at Copenhagen; see Introduction to the sketchbook for the historical background. The stern of the larger ship at centre, with a standard flying at her mizzen gaff, seems also to be the subject of a detail on folio 3 (D06519; Turner Bequest C 2).