Joseph Mallord William Turner

This drawing belongs to a small group of studies on buff paper which probably relate to 'Fishermen at Sea'. Technically, Turner's early moonlights and interiors on paper demonstrate that he was one of a few artists who had begun to experiment in making watercolours emulate the effects of oil painting, then thought to be the only true medium for the serious painter. In a conscious move away from the conventions of eighteenth century tinted drawing practice, Turner and others began to make works on paper which, through the use of coloured papers, bodycolour, scratching out and other techniques, often echoed the oil painter's method of working from dark colours to light ones.

Gallery label, September 2004

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