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 > Calais Pier Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study for 'The Shipwreck' c.1799-1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for 'The Shipwreck'’ c.1799-1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Verso:
Study for ‘The Shipwreck’ c.1799–1805
D04903
Turner Bequest LXXXI 2
Black and white chalks on blue laid paper, 271 x 436 mm
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–2’ bottom right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The painting The Shipwreck was exhibited in Turner’s own gallery in 1805 (Tate N00476),1 and he was sufficiently proud of it to have it engraved in mezzotint by Charles Turner two years later (Tate impression: P79356). With the page turned horizontally, here the principal motif of the picture, a single sail tossed obliquely against a dark sea, is already in place, although almost all the detail of the design remains to be worked out.
Other studies for the painting are on folios 3 verso, 41 verso–42 recto, 67 verso–68 recto, 69 verso–70 recto, and 71 verso–72 recto (D04907, D04982–D04983, D05034–D05035, D05038–D05039, D05042–D05043; Turner Bequest LXXXI 6, 80–81, 132–133, 136–7, 140–1). See also the Shipwreck (1) sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest LXXXVII).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

1
Butlin and Joll 1984, p.43 no.54, pl.64 (colour).

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Study for ‘The Shipwreck’ c.1799–1805 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-study-for-the-shipwreck-r1178107, accessed 25 April 2024.