Joseph Mallord William Turner

Engraved:
(see main catalogue text)

Luke Herrmann has observed that the rough pencil indications of the ship in this composition were made over the watercolour waves, already ‘a telling representation of the vortex effect of a storm at sea’,1 echoing Andrew Wilton’s comparison2 with Turner’ painting Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth, exhibited in 1842 (Tate N00530).3 As Ian Warrell has noted, the Shields Lighthouse-related ‘Little Liber’ study of the moon behind clouds (Tate D25314; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 192) is similar technically in the addition of the slight pencil outline of a ship, the setting and effect being the primary concerns.4 Andrew Wilton has described the ‘opposing media’ of the ship and the sea, perhaps suggesting their ‘antagonism’;5 in the related ‘Little Liber’ mezzotint the ship is transformed into a solid black silhouette, evoking ‘greater horror’,6 to ‘considerably more menacing effect’7 than in this relatively pale watercolour. The numbers inscribed here may correspond to the broad tonal registers of the print.8

The mezzotint9 is traditionally ascribed to Turner himself (see the ‘Little Liber’ introduction). The steel plate was found in his studio after his death, from which some impressions were printed by Sir Francis Seymour Haden before it was sold to the London art dealers Colnaghi in 1873, who had the plate reworked before taking further impressions;10 possibly it was the plate called ‘Seapiece, with Shipping at Night’ in the 24 March 1873 Christie’s sale of prints from Turner’s studio11 (again, see the Introduction). Colnaghi’s presented it to the British Museum, London, in 1942. Turner’s development of the design through two trial proof stages is described by Rawlinson and Dupret, who mention the present watercolour as the source.12 The second stage consisted in adding definition to the ship and clouds.

The watercolour was exhibited at Marlborough House, London, in 1857 as no.114 (subsequently given the National Gallery number 572). John Ruskin noted: