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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > North of England Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Buildings and Shipping on a River 1797

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Buildings and Shipping on a River’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 36 Recto:
Buildings and Shipping on a River 1797
D00941
Turner Bequest XXXIV 34
Pencil on white wove paper, 210 x 270 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘34’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXIV 34’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject is drawn with the page turned horizontally. As Finberg suggested, this rapid study probably records the bank of the River Tyne near its mouth. David Hill suggests ‘?North Shields’. The economically indicated clutter of masts, roofs and figures adumbrates Turner’s interest in the subjects that he was to develop from his experience of the Tyne in his watercolour of Shields on the River Tyne for the Rivers of England series (Tate D18155; Turner Bequest CCVIII V)1 and its later elaboration, the painting of 1835, Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Night (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC).2
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.384 no.732, reproduced.
2
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.210–11 no.360, pl.363 (colour).
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Buildings and Shipping on a River 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-buildings-and-shipping-on-a-river-r1150097, accessed 16 April 2024.