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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and French ... > Holland Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Studies of Ships and Boats under Sail ?off the English Coast 1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Studies of Ships and Boats under Sail ?off the English Coast’ 1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 25 Recto:
Studies of Ships and Boats under Sail ?off the English Coast 1825
D18888
Turner Bequest CCXIV 25
Pencil on white wove paper, 95 x 155 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘25’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXIV – 25’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, shipping scenes are arranged in two bands with a continuous view below, two small scenes at the upper corners and another study of a sailing barge at the centre left. They were presumably made within a relatively short time, and there are indications of coastlines with buildings and perhaps trees in the backgrounds. Compare the studies on folio 24 verso opposite and the verso of this leaf (D18887, D18889).
As set out in the sketchbook and tour Introductions, the relationship between the coastal Kent subjects on earlier pages (and at the other end) and Turner’s routes to and from the Continent for the tour which occupies most of this book is unclear, making the locations shown here difficult to establish, although they are perhaps still English at this point. In addition, see the Introduction for discussion of the book’s many shipping studies.

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr
September 2020

How to cite

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr, ‘Studies of Ships and Boats under Sail ?off the English Coast 1825 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2020, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-studies-of-ships-and-boats-under-sail-off-the-english-coast-r1202240, accessed 01 November 2025.