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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Scotland 1801-10 > Dunbar Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Breaking Waves 1801

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Breaking Waves’ 1801
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 112 Recto:
Breaking Waves 1801
D02801
Turner Bequest LIV 112
Pencil with white gouache on white wove paper prepared with a mauve-pink ground, 115 x 164 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘1004’ bottom left and ‘8’ top right
Inscribed in red ink ‘112’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LIV 112’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This drawing is probably continuous with folio 111 verso opposite (D02800). It is one of a series of studies of breaking waves between folios 109 recto and 116 verso (D02796–D02810); see also folio 3 verso (D02618) and the entry for folio 16 recto (D02809).
Technical notes:
Folios 109–116 (D02796–D02810) probably belonged originally between folios 33 and 34 (D02649, D02650); see the technical notes to the sketchbook’s Introduction.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Breaking Waves 1801 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-breaking-waves-r1178987, accessed 05 June 2025.