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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Spring Tour of Northern France 1845 > Ambleteuse and Wimereux Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Sun Reflected on the Sea ?near Boulogne 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Sun Reflected on the Sea ?near Boulogne’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
The Sun Reflected on the Sea ?near Boulogne 1845
D35392
Turner Bequest CCCLVII 7
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 238 x 334 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘7’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLVII 7’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The spectacular effect of a low sun over the sea is captured here in rapid washes, predominantly yellow, green, and blue. Turner has ‘lifted off’ a small area of blue and green glaze to represent the reflection of the sun on the sea although the sun itself does not feature in the sky. It is unclear whether the green foreground represents a churning sea or a grassy cliff top. Similar effects are pursued in the following three works as originally constituted in the sketchbook (D35393–D35395; Turner Bequest CCCLVII 8–10).
Verso:
Blank.

John Chu
December 2013

How to cite

John Chu, ‘The Sun Reflected on the Sea ?near Boulogne 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 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-the-sun-reflected-on-the-sea-near-boulogne-r1173491, accessed 25 April 2024.