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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Vessel Firing its Guns, and Other Scenes of Shipping c.1821

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 75 Verso:
A Vessel Firing its Guns, and Other Scenes of Shipping c.1821
D17480
Turner Bequest CXCIX 75a
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 190 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?B...]’, ‘[?L...]’, and ‘[?E...]’ towards bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Something of a pair with the facing page on folio 76 recto (D17481), this sheet displays a sketch of a vessel firing its guns towards the centre of the page, composed with the sketchbook inverted relative to its foliation. The hull of the warship is largely obscured by round puffs of smoke, evoked used bouncing lines which form billowing clouds that ascend skyward at right.
At left a drawing of a lighter craft surrounded by the distant masts of other vessels is described. At right, some anonymous topography gently slopes down towards the edge of the page.
In the bottom right corner, a small inscribed sketch appears to show a section of a harbour. A vertical row of dashed lines at right might denote a flight of steps, with the hatched shape in the background suggesting architectural forms. The more loosely handled drawing to the left of this remains ambiguous, its shapes reminiscent of undulating timber shipping but evading concrete identification as such. Finally, at bottom left, a brief outline of the hull of a light craft seems to have been composed with the page upright in relation to its foliation.

Maud Whatley
January 2016

How to cite

Maud Whatley, ‘A Vessel Firing its Guns, and Other Scenes of Shipping c.1821 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-vessel-firing-its-guns-and-other-scenes-of-shipping-r1184758, accessed 04 April 2026.