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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales and Isle of Wight 1795-1800 > South Wales Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Rocks and Shipping, Probably off St David's Head 1795

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Rocks and Shipping, Probably off St David's Head’ 1795
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 34 Recto:
Rocks and Shipping, Probably off St David’s Head 1795
D00587
Turner Bequest XXVI 34
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 203 x 264 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[3]4’, partly torn away, bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXVI 34’ bottom left, descending vertically
Turner appears to have taken delight in exploring the rocks along this part of the Pembrokeshire coast very much as he was to do in Plymouth Sound on his visits to Devon in 1811 and 1813. See also folios 30 recto, 32 recto and 33 recto (D00583, D00585, D00586).
Finberg presumably cites the Loan Collection number and title from the initial (1878?) version of the Oxford catalogue, not reprinted in full by Cook and Wedderburn, but quoted by them in this instance in a footnote.1 Ruskin’s suggestion that this represents Turner’s ‘Earliest try’ at painting surf leaves out of account the watercolours Turner executed in about 1792 following his visit to the South Welsh coast in 1791; see Tate D00391, D00392 and D00396 (Turner Bequest XXIII Q, R, V).
The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally.
1
Cook and Wedderburn 1904, p.564 note 3; see also pp.560–1 note 4.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘739’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Rocks and Shipping, Probably off St David’s Head 1795 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-rocks-and-shipping-probably-off-st-davids-head-r1140914, accessed 20 September 2024.