Faded from exposure in the First Loan Collection. Finberg’s entry, written when the leaf was out of the book on this national tour, noted; ‘Probably connected with the subject of “Nelson”, if not actually one of the leaves of this sketchbook’. Despite Finberg’s reservations, the leaf surely belongs to this sketchbook.
Finberg’s note must refer to Turner’s picture
The Battle of Trafalgar, as Seen from the Mizen Starboard Shrouds of the Victory (Tate
N00480),
1 exhibited at Turner’s Gallery in 1806, for which see the Introduction to this sketchbook. The more likely connection, together with the starboard view of the
Victory on folio 16 verso (
D05486; Turner Bequest LXXXIX 28a), another port-side study on folio 18 (
D05489; Turner Bequest LXXXIX 30) and the sky study on the verso (
D05488), is with
The Victory Returning from Trafalgar, also possibly shown in Turner’s Gallery in 1806 (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut).
2 See Introduction to the sketchbook and entry for
D05486 for the picture and associated work.
In this drawing, Turner concentrates on the bows, deck and stern and shows smaller vessels alongside.
David Blayney Brown
March 2006
