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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > History Painting c.1799-1807 > Studies for Pictures Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ships in a Calm c.1799-1802

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ships in a Calm’ c.1799-1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 99 Recto:
Ships in a Calm c.1799–1802
D04115
Turner Bequest LXIX 100
Pencil, ink, wash and white chalk on blue laid paper, 135 x 210 mm
Watermark: Strasburg lily (trimmed)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘100’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXIX-100’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
It is not clear why Finberg titled this drawing, made with the page turned horizontally, ‘Sea Piece: Evening’.1 It is one of a long series in this book showing shipping in calm weather; the drawing on folio 93 recto (D04108; Turner Bequest LXIX 94), which includes a ship firing a gun, is likely to show an evening or possibly morning scene. The central ship presented bow-on recurs on folios 10 recto and 17 recto (D04004, D04011).
1
See Finberg 1909, I, p.173.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by Ruskin in red ink ‘83’.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Ships in a Calm c.1799–1802 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 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-ships-in-a-calm-r1177993, accessed 23 September 2024.