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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunset at Sea 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Recto:
Sunset at Sea 1845
D35360
Turner Bequest CCCLV 14
Chalk and pencil on laid paper laid on grey card, 170 x 70 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?2S M...]’ top centre; ‘[?L... L...]’, towards top centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘14’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLV–14’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Here Turner has produced a number of miniature coast and sea views: sketches of a softly mounded beach or a distant view of a coastline; a figure possibly standing upon the shore; and a ship on the horizon. The sails of a small sailing-boat or perhaps tendrils smoke from a steamer may have been suggested to the right of the ship. It appears that Turner applied some brief touches of chalk to the central drawing, smudged to suggest sky.

Alice Rylance-Watson
February 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Sunset at Sea 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, June 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-sunset-at-sea-r1142191, accessed 18 April 2024.