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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth 1844 > Studies Relating to the Arrival of Louis ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Arrival of Louis-Philippe: ?The Waterfront at Gosport, with Portsmouth beyond the Harbour 1844

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Arrival of Louis-Philippe: ?The Waterfront at Gosport, with Portsmouth beyond the Harbour’ 1844
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
The Arrival of Louis-Philippe: ?The Waterfront at Gosport, with Portsmouth beyond the Harbour 1844
D35888
Turner Bequest CCCLXIV 48
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 234 x 312 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[...]’ towards bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘48’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXIV – 48’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Like the other works grouped here, this relates to the arrival of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, at Portsmouth Harbour on 8 October 1844, as discussed in the Introductions to this subsection and the overall section.1 In this case the view appears to be eastwards from the Gosport side of the harbour, with the cupola of Portsmouth Cathedral probably indicated on the skyline towards the left; compare Tate D35899 (Turner Bequest CCCLXIV 57).2
There are small pencil studies towards the bottom right with brief, illegible annotations. They may show buildings and a carriage, and perhaps diagrams of flags. Whether they are connected to the Portsmouth subject or made incidentally on another occasion is unclear.
1
See also Smiles 2014, p.168.
2
See Warrell 2013, p.10.
Technical notes:
A roughly horizontal crease to the right from the centre coincides with the watercolour work there and was probably a manufacturing fault. Some of the colour has pooled slightly in the crease.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCCLXIV – 48’ towards bottom right.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Arrival of Louis-Philippe: ?The Waterfront at Gosport, with Portsmouth beyond the Harbour 1844 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-arrival-of-louis-philippe-the-waterfront-at-gosport-with-r1185693, accessed 27 April 2024.