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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Margate, London and Surrey c.1829-45 > Marine Dabblers Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Groups of Figures by the Sea, Perhaps at Margate c.1829-30

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Groups of Figures by the Sea, Perhaps at Margate’ c.1829-30
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 38 Verso:
Groups of Figures by the Sea, Perhaps at Margate c.1829–30
D22505
Turner Bequest CCXLI 38a
Pencil on gilt-edged pink wove paper, 89 x 113 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘489 Sept 28 1830’ at left, ascending vertically, and ‘[?Wash] Fish’ towards bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, Turner has made two rapid sketches of groupings of figures, apparently at leisure on or overlooking a beach. There seem to be women and children1 among them, and perhaps a dog at the top right. Not everyone is unoccupied, as there is a note of a catch of fish being cleaned at the bottom right. There are related studies on folio 39 recto opposite (D22506), with a similar note. For other studies definitely or perhaps made at Margate in this sketchbook, see the Introduction.
The significance of the note of a figure and specific date, inscribed independently of the drawings, is unclear, but is presumably financial. Assuming it was written on or around the date mentioned, it is among the very few clues to the dating of the sketchbook; see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
May 2014

1
See Chumbley and Warrell 1989, p.42, and Forrester 1996, p.80.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Groups of Figures by the Sea, Perhaps at Margate c.1829–30 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2014, 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-groups-of-figures-by-the-sea-perhaps-at-margate-r1148397, accessed 25 April 2024.