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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > French Tour 1821 > Paris, Seine and Dieppe Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ships 1821

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ships’ 1821
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 8 Verso:
Ships 1821
D18537
Turner Bequest CCXI 8a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch of three ships – or one ship sketched three times – is one of a small number of sketches in this book of shipping at Greenwich; for further information see Tate D18539 (Turner Bequest CCXI 9a). The main drawing depicts a two-masted vessel with an eagle figurehead that Turner drew from several different positions. It is possible that these sketches were made in August 1822 and are connected to George IV’s sea journey from Greenwich to Leith for a royal visit to Scotland.1

Thomas Ardill
February 2013

1
Warrell 1999, pp.24, 253 note 42.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Ships 1821 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-ships-r1146233, accessed 20 April 2024.