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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Ports of England c.1822-8 > Ports of England Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of Clouds c.1822-3

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of Clouds’ c.1822-3
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 23 Recto
Study of Clouds c.1822–3
D17742
Turner Bequest CCII 23
Watercolour on paper, 257 x 178 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘23’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCII–23’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Perhaps one of the most visual arresting watercolours in the sketchbook, Turner here evokes the mushrooming of cumuli in an expansive sky with sea below. The sheet has been saturated with wash, allowing the brush to leave an impression of its fibres in every stroke and daub. Turner may have also used his figures here as a means to apply and manipulate wash. Turner’s palette of grey and cerulean blue evokes the dim and sombre light of a storm at sea.
Verso:
Blank

Alice Rylance-Watson
March 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Study of Clouds c.1822–3 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-study-of-clouds-r1148312, accessed 18 April 2024.