Joseph Mallord William Turner

Sailing Boats with Bunting at Portsmouth

1844

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 116 × 74 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D35706
Turner Bequest CCCLXII 12

Catalogue entry

Turned vertically, there are two slight studies of sailing boats here, one of which is dressed with bunting;1 see also folios 16 verso, 23 verso, 25 verso, 27 verso and 31 recto and verso (D35714, D35727, D35731, D35735, D35743, D35744). Like the other rapid sketches in this book, this relates to the arrival of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, at Portsmouth Harbour on 8 October 1844, as discussed in the Introductions to the sketchbook and the overall section.

Ian Warrell has noted the ‘flags dressing the rigging of the larger French and British vessels. The yards of many of these were also manned’,2 as shown in the detailed 1846 painting Débarquement de Louis-Philippe à Portsmouth, le 8 octobre 1844 by Eugène Isabey (1803–1886; Château de Versailles).

Matthew Imms
September 2016

See Brown 1987, p.20, and Warrell 2013, pp.10–11.

Warrell 2013, ibid.

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