Joseph Mallord William Turner

The painting The Shipwreck was exhibited in Turner’s own gallery in 1805 (Tate N00476),1 and he was sufficiently proud of it to have it engraved in mezzotint by Charles Turner two years later (Tate impression: P79356). With the page turned horizontally, here the principal motif of the picture, a single sail tossed obliquely against a dark sea, is already in place, although almost all the detail of the design remains to be worked out.

Other studies for the painting are on folios 3 verso, 41 verso–42 recto, 67 verso–68 recto, 69 verso–70 recto, and 71 verso–72 recto (D04907, D04982–D04983, D05034–D05035, D05038–D05039, D05042–D05043; Turner Bequest LXXXI 6, 80–81, 132–133, 136–7, 140–1). See also the Shipwreck (1) sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest LXXXVII).