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 Clouds at Dawn or Dusk, Perhaps above the Sea c.1818

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of Clouds at Dawn or Dusk, Perhaps above the Sea’ c.1818
Folio 40 Recto:
Study of Clouds at Dawn or Dusk, Perhaps above the Sea c.1818
D12488
Turner Bequest CLVIII 40
Watercolour on white wove paper, 125 x 247 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘40’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLVIII – 40’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
On this page the pink light catching the clouds suggests a sunrise or a sunset. The dark blue strokes of paint at the bottom of the composition might suggest a body of water. There are visual similarities to the preceding pages, the rectos of folios 38 and 39 (D12486, D12487), and also to some of the works featured in Matthew Imms’s parallel ‘Colour Studies of the Sun and Clouds at Dawn and Sunset c.1815–40’ subsection of the present catalogue.
See the sketchbook’s Introduction for general notes on possible locations and dating.
Verso:
Blank

Caitlin Doley
July 2024

How to cite

Caitlin Doley, ‘Study of Clouds at Dawn or Dusk, Perhaps above the Sea 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-clouds-at-dawn-or-dusk-perhaps-above-the-sea-r1208912, accessed 22 May 2026.