Joseph Mallord William Turner

Ships

1821

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Paris, Seine and Dieppe Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 113 × 189 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D18537
Turner Bequest CCXI 8 a

Catalogue entry

This sketch of three ships – or one ship sketched three times – is one of a small number of sketches in this book of shipping at Greenwich; for further information see Tate D18539 (Turner Bequest CCXI 9a). The main drawing depicts a two-masted vessel with an eagle figurehead that Turner drew from several different positions. It is possible that these sketches were made in August 1822 and are connected to George IV’s sea journey from Greenwich to Leith for a royal visit to Scotland.1

Thomas Ardill
February 2013

1
Warrell 1999, pp.24, 253 note 42.

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