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
D35393
Turner Bequest CCCLVII 8
Pencil and watercolour white wove on paper, 238 x 336 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘8’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monograph towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLVII 8’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As in the preceding and subsequent two works as originally constituted in the sketchbook (D35392, D35394, D35395; Turner Bequest CCCLVII 7, 9, 10), Turner here attempts to catch the effect of a low sun reflected on the sea. In this instance, a greater repertoire of brush-strokes and glazes is deployed over a more concentrated area. Scudding clouds are formed of glancing dark pink and grey-blue brush-stokes and the sun ‘lifted off’ from the yellow wash. The reflection of the sea is created out of a blunt triangle of ‘reserved’ paper although this is at variance from the position of the actual sun. A row of thin grey parallel strokes towards the centre left of the page may indicate the presence of a pier or jetty.
Verso:
Blank, except for lightly speckled brown discolouration across the whole page.

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-r1173492, accessed 25 April 2024.