J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Vessel at Sea c.1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Vessel at Sea’ c.1845
A Vessel at Sea c.1845
D35248
Turner Bequest CCCLIII 9
Chalk and watercolour on white wove paper prepared with a grey wash, 221 x 327 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘9’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLIII 9’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Here Turner presents a lone ship, drawn rather faintly in black chalk to suggest distance or a sea mist, on a stretch of black sea. White chalk highlights the horizon and a patch of sky below a cloud, formed by repeated hasty dabs of the brush. A swathe of brown with strikes of black chalk in the foreground may allude to an ice sheet, which would, in common with other leaves from the Whalers sketchbook, situate this drawing within the realm of Turner’s arctic whaling subjects.
Technical Notes:
In common with others in this sketchbook, the leaf is loose of its binding. There are some areas of discolouration, particularly evident towards the edge of the sheet. Spots of the pigment used to prepare the ground have formed; this is particularly prominent in the upper area of the sheet. Both these are likely the result of damage in the Tate Gallery flood of 1928.
Verso:
Blank; channels of discolouration indicating previous cockling, probably as a result of water damage in the 1928 Tate flood.

Amy Concannon
May 2025

How to cite

Amy Concannon, ‘A Vessel at Sea c.1845’, catalogue entry, May 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2026, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/a-vessel-at-sea-r1214156, accessed 11 July 2026.