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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Colour Studies of the Sun, Skies and ... > Skies Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of a Cloudy Sky c.1818

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of a Cloudy Sky’ c.1818
Folio 30 Recto:
Study of a Cloudy Sky c.1818
D12478
Turner Bequest CLVIII 30
Watercolour on white wove paper, 125 x 247 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘30’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLVIII – 30’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In this minimal sketch Turner has used blank areas of white paper and streaks of blue paint to convey an impression of clouds moving across the sky. Darker clouds are beginning to form towards the bottom right of the composition.
See the sketchbook’s Introduction for general notes on possible locations and dating.
Technical notes:
There is some staining visible in the upper left- and right-hand corners of the leaf, possibly sustained during the 1928 Tate Gallery flood.
Verso:
Blank, save for stain marks in the upper left-hand corner, corresponding with that visible on the recto.

Caitlin Doley
July 2024

How to cite

Caitlin Doley, ‘Study of a Cloudy Sky c.1818’, catalogue entry, July 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, October 2024, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/study-of-a-cloudy-sky-r1208902, accessed 19 June 2025.