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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Thames, London and South of England 1821 ... > Thames Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sailing Boat on a River c.1825

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Sailing Boat on a River’ c.1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 30 Recto:
A Sailing Boat on a River c.1825
D18634
Turner Bequest CCXII 30
Watercolour on white wove paper, 114 x 188 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘30’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXII – 30’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of a sequence of twenty-five recto pages of watercolour landscape, sea and sky compositions between folio 9 recto (D18609) and folio 34 recto (D18638), many of which evoke quiet Thames Valley scenes with water in the foreground; for a checklist and general comments, see the sketchbook’s Introduction. With light indications of a river bank beyond, here the main feature is a boat silhouetted contre-jour in profile under full sail, with varying densities and colours perhaps suggesting the light filtering through different weights of sailcloth.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Sailing Boat on a River c.1825 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-sailing-boat-on-a-river-r1172752, accessed 12 August 2025.