Joseph Mallord William Turner

Ships and Boats Sailing; Study of a Cloudy Sky

?1831

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Worcester and Shrewsbury Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 191 × 114 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D22322
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 91 a

Catalogue entry

With the page turned vertically, the upper half is occupied with studies of ships and boats at sea or in an estuary, possibly made as Turner returned from Scotland in 1831 (see the sketchbook’s Introduction), near Newcastle upon Tyne (see under folio 8 recto; D22163) or on the River Thames, as there are also views from Richmond Hill, west of London (see under folio 89 verso; D22316; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 88a). There are further shipping studies inside the back cover opposite (D41055).

At the centre left are the following figures:

     2, 6
     2  6
     1
     2

At the centre right appears:

14
18

On the study of clouds at the outer edge of the page, inverted relative to the shipping studies, there are colour notes: ‘Dun’, ‘Blue’, ‘Blue’ and ‘W’.

Matthew Imms
April 2014

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