
In Tate Britain
Turner's Modern World
- Artist
- Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 902 × 1200 mm
frame: 1200 × 1510 × 133 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
- Reference
- N00369
Display caption
This representation of an historical event contains a number of errors. William's fleet had indeed been beaten back to base in October 1688 but on 1 November sailed in perfect weather, landing on 5 November. Like various earlier Dutch-inspired compositions, this, too, carries a political message connected with Anglo-Dutch relations. Here, Turner criticises again British non-intervention in the Belgian revolt, which was to lead to the termination in 1839 of the United Netherlands. In the Academy catalogue Turner added a curious note about the Prince having sailed his yacht, not a frigate - a confusion with his arrival in a yacht for his wedding to Princess Mary on 4th (!) November 1677.
Gallery label, August 2004
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Catalogue entry
343. [N00369] The Prince of Orange, William III, embarked from Holland, and landed at Torbay, November 4th, 1688, after a Stormy Passage Exh. 1832
THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (369)
Canvas, 35 1/2 × 47 1/4 (90·5 × 120)
Coll. Robert Vernon, presumably purchased at the R.A. 1832; given to the National Gallery 1847; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1912.
Exh. R.A. 1832 (153); Australian tour 1960 (10); Marine Painting City Art Gallery, Plymouth, August 1969 (27); on loan to National Maritime Museum 1975–80.
Lit. Hall 18512, p. 10 no. 78; ‘The Vernon Gallery: The Prince of Orange landing at Torbay’, Art Journal 1852, p. 226, engr. W. Miller; Hall iii 1853, no. 8, engr.; Waagen 1854, i, p. 385; Thornbury 1862, i, p. 321; Wornum 1875, pp. 77–8, engr.; Thornbury 1877, p. 448; Bell 1901, pp. 118–19 no. 178; Armstrong 1902, p. 226; MacColl 1920, p. 1; Finberg 1961, pp. 335, 493 no. 378; Lindsay 1966, pp. 141–2; Lindsay 19662, pp. 61–2; Wilton 1979, pp. 218–19.
Exhibited in 1832 with a reference to ‘-“History of England”’ and the text
‘The yacht in which his Majesty sailed was, after many changes and services, finally wrecked on Hamburgh sands, while employed in the Hull trade.’
According to Wornum she was in fact wrecked on the Black Middens, near Tynemouth Castle. The landing in fact took place on the morning of 5 November. William sailed from Helvoetsluys, the subject of another picture exhibited by Turner in the same year (No. 345). Andrew Wilton, countering the stress on Turner's late pessimism made by many critics recently, sees this as an optimistic picture, with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 paralleling the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. William III's landing at Torbay after enduring the storm demonstrates man's victory over nature.
As compared to Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (No. 342 [N00516]) this picture struck critics as of ‘a soberer tone’ (Morning Chronicle, 7 May 1832) and as showing a ‘strict adherence to nature’ (Literary Gazette, 12 May). According to the Athenaeum for 26 May, however, ‘The painter has made this picture somewhat poetical: he has squandered the finest hues and the finest perspective upon a subject which has lost somewhat of its feverish interest in the hearts of Englishmen.’
Published in:
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
Explore
- history(5,784)
- seascapes and coasts(8,002)
- storm(704)
- transport: water(8,024)
-
- boat, rowing(689)
- ship, sailing(1,344)
You might like
-
After Joseph Mallord William Turner The Prince of Orange Landing at Torbay, engraved by W. Miller
published 1859–61 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Stormy Sea with Blazing Wreck
c.1835–40 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Stormy Sea with Dolphins
c.1835–40 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Stormy Sea
c.1830 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Rough Sea with Wreckage
c.1840–5 -
After Joseph Mallord William Turner A Fresh Breeze (after ‘Sheerness and the Isle of Sheppey’)
date not known -
After Joseph Mallord William Turner Torbay
1821 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Van Tromp Returning after the Battle off the Dogger Bank
exhibited 1833 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner A Shipweck in a Stormy Sea
c.1823–6 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Waves Breaking on a Lee Shore at Margate (Study for ‘Rockets and Blue Lights’)
c.1840 -
After Joseph Mallord William Turner Torbay
1821 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Seascape with Buoy
c.1840 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Shipping
c.1825–30? -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Fishing Boats Bringing a Disabled Ship into Port Ruysdael
exhibited 1844 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner Sea-Piece and Stormy Sky
c.1822–3