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

Although the setting of this dramatic evocation of ships in heavy weather was identified in 1995 as Portsmouth,1 there seems little in the vaguely defined distant shoreline (with a square ochre form perhaps representing a castle or other large building) to connect the scene with the Hampshire port in particular. See the Introduction to the London Bridge and Portsmouth sketchbook of about (Tate; Turner Bequest CCVI) in the ‘Thames, London and South of England 1821–7’ section for details of Turner’s visits to the area and various finished watercolours set in the Solent at the mouth of the harbour.

The pale band over the sea at the right may represent chalk cliffs at some other point on the South Coast of England; Eric Shanes has connected the scene to Brighton, without further comment.2 The setting is secondary to the vessels beset by the elements. Although the belching steamer is the focus, there is also a ship with billowing sails passing beyond, and rough indications of at least one small open boat in the foreground, with blue and white stripes apparently marking the jersey of one of the somewhat exposed crew.

Noting that Finberg had placed this sheet at a relatively late date,3 Andrew Wilton observed ‘certain affinities’ with late seascapes such as the dynamic painting Snow Storm – Steam Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth, exhibited in 1842 (Tate N00530),4 albeit suggesting closer links with marine watercolours of the 1820s including studies for the Ports of England series (see Alice Rylance-Watson’s ‘Ports of England c.1822–8’ section), which ‘employ the same range of greys and greens’.5

Whether coincidentally or not, the dimensions of this unusually squarish sheet correspond with some of those in the Turner Bequest and elsewhere used by Turner on his 1836 tour of the Val d’Aosta; compare for example Tate D25439, D35887 and D35964 (Turner Bequest CCLXIII 316, CCCLXIV 47, 121), which share a relatively muted palette and loose handling.6 In view of the range of opinions and suggestions, a range date covering the 1820s and 1830s has been applied here.

Technical notes:

There is a diagonal crease towards the top left, where blue and dark grey pigments have pooled. There are touches of strong, partially mixed red and blue among the clouds at the top right. The sails beyond the steamer were initially reserved.

Verso:

Blank; the diagonal crease noted on the recto is more evident.