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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern Germany, the Elbe and Prague ... > Copenhagen to Dresden Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sailing Ships; Distant Town; Low Sun over the Sea; Ships in the Baltic 1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sailing Ships; Distant Town; Low Sun over the Sea; Ships in the Baltic’ 1835
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 50 Verso
Sailing Ships; Distant Town; Low Sun over the Sea; Ships in the Baltic 1835
D31119
Turner Bequest CCCVII 50 a
Pencil on cream laid paper, 162 x 89 mm
Watermark double ‘X’ mark
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Swedish Coast | on Left’, ‘Water Dark’ top left to right; ‘Fragner’ centre towards top right; ‘Yellow’, ‘Purple [...]’, ‘Water Light’ centre right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These sketches show shipping and views on the Baltic Sea. From top to bottom the sketches depict sailing ships, a distant town and harbour, a low sun over the sea, and ships at sea. The sketch at rear was rendered with the book turned horizontally. Turner has inscribed the note ‘Swedish Coast on Left’ in the uppermost view, indicating that the artist was near the Øresund, a Sound which lies between Denmark and Sweden (see Tate D31120–D31131; Turner Bequest CCCVII 51–56a). Turner has also inscribed ‘yellow’, ‘purple’, ‘Water Light’ and ‘Water Dark’ on the sketch showing a sunset or sunrise on the Baltic.

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2015

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Sailing Ships; Distant Town; Low Sun over the Sea; Ships in the Baltic 1835 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-sailing-ships-distant-town-low-sun-over-the-sea-ships-in-the-r1186994, accessed 05 April 2026.