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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Shipping off Gosport and Portsmouth ?1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 15 Verso:
Shipping off Gosport and Portsmouth ?1824
D17942
Turner Bequest CCVI 15a
Pencil on white wove paper, 160 x 100 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Gosp[...]’ right of centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, there are five bands of studies here, showing shipping in Portsmouth Harbour and aspects of its waterfront. At the top appears to be a view south from the dockyard with the tower of Portsmouth Cathedral and the tower at Baltic Wharf. The next two views are south-east towards Gosport, as inscribed on the second of them. The fourth shows the Vulcan Block clock tower, with the cathedral towards the right, and the last, like the first, has the cathedral on the left and the Baltic Wharf tower at the centre.
This is one of a continuous series of views around Portsmouth between folios 1 recto and 20 recto (D17913–D17951); many appear to have been made from a boat; for the overall sequence and details of the most prominent buildings and defences, see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Shipping off Gosport and Portsmouth ?1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-shipping-off-gosport-and-portsmouth-r1172659, accessed 19 September 2024.