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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Brighton and Copies from Wilson 1796-7 > Wilson Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Horses and a Cart, with Figures, in a Sandy Cutting Leading to the Sea, with the Rigging of Sailing Vessels beyond Buildings 1796-7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Horses and a Cart, with Figures, in a Sandy Cutting Leading to the Sea, with the Rigging of Sailing Vessels beyond Buildings’ 1796-7
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 58 Verso:
Horses and a Cart, with Figures, in a Sandy Cutting Leading to the Sea, with the Rigging of Sailing Vessels beyond Buildings 1796–7
D01235
Turner Bequest XXXVII 118
Pencil, watercolour and gouache on blue laid wrapping paper prepared with a red-brown wash, 113 x 93 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXXVII – 118’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The composition continues across folio 59 recto opposite (D01236; Turner Bequest XXXVII 119). The sandy chine is typical of the ancient routes that cut through the low cliffs of Kent and Sussex to their beaches. There is a discrepancy between the size of the sails and ships’ rigging seen behind the buildings at the left and the apparent distance of the water and other shipping on the right of this composition. It may be that Turner has conflated two quite different scenes into one.

Andrew Wilton
September 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Horses and a Cart, with Figures, in a Sandy Cutting Leading to the Sea, with the Rigging of Sailing Vessels beyond Buildings 1796–7 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-horses-and-a-cart-with-figures-in-a-sandy-cutting-leading-to-r1149925, accessed 19 April 2024.