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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales 1798 > Cyfarthfa Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Shipping and Rowing Boats in the Avon Gorge 1798

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Shipping and Rowing Boats in the Avon Gorge’ 1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Shipping and Rowing Boats in the Avon Gorge 1798
D01657
Turner Bequest XLI 26
Pencil and wash on white wove paper, 277 x 454 mm
Watermark ‘1794 | J Whatman’
Inscribed in pencil ‘26’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘XLI – 26’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The steep high cliffs shown here suggest that the location is the Avon Gorge, a conclusion confirmed by drawings and notes in the contemporary Swans sketchbook such as Tate D01698 (Turner Bequest XLII 23); see under D01656 (Turner Bequest XLI 25), but see also D01661 (Turner Bequest XLI 28a). The same place is apparently shown in the drawing on D01658 (Turner Bequest XLI 26a).
Technical notes:
The restricted palette of grey and pinkish-brown appears to reflect Turner’s original palette, but comparison with D01658 suggests that all this series of shipping scenes has been damaged by light, as noted under D01656.
Verso:
Blank; not stamped.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Shipping and Rowing Boats in the Avon Gorge 1798 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, 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-and-rowing-boats-in-the-avon-gorge-r1173273, accessed 25 April 2024.