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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Isle of Wight 1827 > Windsor and Cowes, Isle of Wight ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Yachts under Sail and a Steamer; Figures 1827

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Yachts under Sail and a Steamer; Figures’ 1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 63 Verso:
Yachts under Sail and a Steamer; Figures 1827
D20693
Turner Bequest CCXXVI 60a
Pencil on white wove paper, 192 x 112 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘B Sky’ left of centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These five drawings were made with the page turned vertically. The three main ones show busy scenes of yachts and other craft under way, including a steamer issuing smoke in the lowest, set against the laconically noted ‘B[lue] Sky’. At the centre right is a slightly confused thumbnail sketch of a jumble of sails.
At the bottom right is a loose study of a man, possibly with an umbrella and companion, perhaps observing the boats; for other spectators, see under folio 13 recto (D20615; Turner Bequest CCXXVI 12). The shoreline and buildings in the upper view may be at Cowes. For more on studies in this sketchbook relating to the regatta events at Cowes from late July 1827 onwards, see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
November 2015

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Yachts under Sail and a Steamer; Figures 1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-yachts-under-sail-and-a-steamer-figures-r1183335, accessed 19 April 2024.