Joseph Mallord William Turner

Sea and Sky

c.1845

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On loan

Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, USA): Turner Watercolours

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 236 x 314 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D35950
Turner Bequest CCCLXIV 107

Display caption

This sketch is part of a sequence of at least five watercolours, executed in the same range of leon and orange, which focus on a sunset seen from a beach. A wooden groyne runs down to the sea on the left-hand side in this and another study in te group. These works may have been made on one of Turner's visits to Margate, but it is not clear if they were sketched from the motif, or whether Turner was simply experimenting with his colours, relying on his memory for the glorious sunset.

Gallery label, August 2004

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