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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Ports of England c.1822-8 > 'Ports of England' Studies > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study for 'Sheerness' c.1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for 'Sheerness'’ c.1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Study for ‘Sheerness’ c.1824
D25389
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 266
Watercolour and pencil on white wove paper, 170 x 244 mm
Watermarked ‘J wha[tman] | turkey [mill] | 18[22]’
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII 266’ in black bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This drawing is a colour study for Sheerness in the Ports of England series (Tate D18153; Turner Bequest CCVIII T). Turner depicts a more forbidding sky in this sketch than in the finished design, rendered in vigorous strokes of dark blue and grey wash. Shipping is marked out in light pencil, highlighted sparingly in grey wash to render a sense of tone.
The navy longboat flying its ensign dominates the composition. To the left of it is a cutter and to the right in the distance is either a collier brig or man-of-war. Although a relatively undeveloped sketch, there is a strong evocation of the elements in this drawing: the skies responding to the force and velocity of the wind, the swell and churn of the sea.
The drawing was taken on the same large sheet as the colour study for Ramsgate (D25422; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 299).
Verso:
Stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram and ‘CCLXIII 266’ at bottom left; inscribed in pencil ‘CCLXIII | 266’ and ‘D25389’ at bottom right; and inscribed in pencil ‘41’ at centre.

Alice Rylance-Watson
March 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Study for ‘Sheerness’ c.1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-study-for-sheerness-r1148230, accessed 04 November 2025.