Joseph Mallord William Turner

Two Sailing Boats

c.1799–1802

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Studies for Pictures Sketchbook
Medium: Ink and graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 135 × 210 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D04001
Turner Bequest LXIX 7

Catalogue entry

Made with the page turned horizontally, this rapid sketch notes the patterns made by set sails as they pass across each other, a motif that recurs in Turner’s marines of this period, notably in Dutch Boats in a Gale: Fishermen Endeavouring to Put their Fish on Board (‘The Bridgewater Seapiece’) of 1801 (private collection, on long loan to the National Gallery, London)1 and Ships Bearing Up for Anchorage (‘The Egremont Seapiece’) of 1802 (Tate T03868, on display at Petworth House, Sussex).2 Compare the slightly more developed sketch on folio 128 verso (D04148; Turner Bequest LXIX 129a).

Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.12–13 no.14, pl.11 (colour).

Ibid., p.17 no.18, pl.14 (colour).

Verso:

Blank

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

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