Joseph Mallord William Turner

This rough watercolour vignette is one of a group of more than thirty watercolour sketches in the Turner Bequest which have been identified as preliminary studies for Campbell’s Poetical Works, published by Edward Moxon in 1837. The turbulent seascape does not appear to directly relate to any of Turner’s finished designs. However, it is painted in the same palette and style as another study (see Tate D27558; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 41), which is probably a preliminary design for either The Andes Coast or Lord Ullin’s Daughter circa 1835 (both National Gallery of Scotland).1 The similarities between these two studies suggest that they were drawn around the same time, probably for the same project. For a general discussion of sketches related to The Andes Coast, see Tate D27524; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 7.

All of the studies related to Campbell’s Poetical Works are painted on cheap, lightweight paper and executed in a rough, loose style. This work was part of a parcel of studies described by John Ruskin as ‘A.B. 40. PO. Vignette beginnings, once on a roll. Worthless’.2 For an explanation of his meaning of ‘once on a roll’ see the technical notes above. Finberg records how Ruskin later described his phrasing in a letter to Ralph Nicholson Wornum as ‘horrible’, adding ‘I never meant it to be permanent’.3

Technical notes:
Peter Bower has noted that this study is made on off-white low-grade machine-made cartridge paper. The maker is unknown and there is no watermark. This paper would have been relatively cheap to buy and could have been purchased from a colourman, cut off from a roll to the desired size. Turner has used the ‘felt’ side of the paper which has slightly more texture than the ‘wire’ side, allowing better adhesion of pigment and graphite to the surface of the sheet. Many of Turner’s vignette studies were made on a similar grade of machine-made paper, and the artist employed the ‘felt’ side on all of them.1

Verso:

Inscribed by unknown hands in pencil ‘AB 40 P | O’ bottom right and ‘D27568’ bottom left