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 > Cowes Regatta Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Yachts under Sail; Women in a Breeze and Regatta Spectators with a Telescope, Probably at Cowes 1827

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Yachts under Sail; Women in a Breeze and Regatta Spectators with a Telescope, Probably at Cowes’ 1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 19 Recto:
Yachts under Sail; Women in a Breeze and Regatta Spectators with a Telescope, Probably at Cowes 1827
D18024
Turner Bequest CCVII 19
Pencil on white wove paper, 74 x 100 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘19’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCVII – 19’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
On the left is a study of yachts; their billowing sails perhaps suggest racing. The yachts on folio 18 verso opposite (D18023) seem to have been observed on the same occasion, and are perhaps even the same craft. To the right, drawn with the page turned vertically, are figure studies, with women holding their dresses down in the breeze,1 recalling similar wind-blown figures in the painting Calais Pier, exhibited in 1803 (National Gallery, London);2 see also the woman on folio 58 recto (D18101). There are also figures looking off to the right, including one apparently using a telescope, presumably to watch the yachts; compare those on folios 33 recto and 36 recto (D18052, D18058). For more on studies in this sketchbook relating to the regatta events at Cowes from late July 1827 onwards, see the sketchbook Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

1
See Chumbley and Warrell 1989, p.60.
2
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.37–8 no.48, pl.58 (colour).

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Yachts under Sail; Women in a Breeze and Regatta Spectators with a Telescope, Probably at Cowes 1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2014, 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-women-in-a-breeze-and-regatta-spectators-r1183512, accessed 25 April 2024.