Joseph Mallord William Turner

Yachts Passing Moored Boats

1827

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In Tate Britain

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Cowes, the River Medina and Shipping
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 141 × 189 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D20877
Turner Bequest CCXXVIII 17

Catalogue entry

This is among dozens of blue paper studies presumably made in connection with the Cowes Regatta events in the late summer of 1827; see the Introduction to this subsection for others showing shipping under sail and in some cases apparently racing. In this slight sketch there appear to be yachts under way on the right, passing the more prominent moored vessels.

As noted in the Introduction, the present work and thirty-four other sheets were recorded in Finberg’s 1909 Inventory as unmounted, and ‘formed part of [a] parcel’ labelled by John Ruskin ‘O. 232. Chalk scrawls on grey. Rubbish.’1

Finberg 1909, II, p.702.

Verso:

Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘232 | O’ top left, upside down; inscribed in pencil ‘CCXXVIII . 17’ bottom right.

Matthew Imms
November 2015

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