Joseph Mallord William Turner

Study for a Stormy Sea Piece

c.1799–1805

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Calais Pier Sketchbook
Medium
Chalk on paper
Dimensions
Support: 271 × 436 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D04905
Turner Bequest LXXXI 4

Catalogue entry

Drawn with the page turned horizontally, this appears to be a broad study for a picture showing a maritime storm, like the Shipwreck of 1805 (Tate N00476),1 though Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll do not associate it with that work;2 for studies relating to the painting, see under folio 1 verso (D04903; Turner Bequest LXXXI 2). The black mass at the left seems to be the hull of a large ship seen from a viewpoint close to the heaving water. Compare the study on folio 3 verso (D04907; Turner Bequest LXXXI 6).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.43 no.54, pl.64 (colour).
2
See ibid.

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