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 'Ships Bearing up for Anchorage ("The Egremont Seapiece")'; a Figure Study c.1799-1802

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for 'Ships Bearing up for Anchorage ("The Egremont Seapiece")'; a Figure Study’ c.1799-1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 34 Verso:
Study for ‘Ships Bearing up for Anchorage (“The Egremont Seapiece”)’; a Figure Study c.1799–1802
D04968
Turner Bequest LXXXI 66
Black and white chalks on blue laid paper, 436 x 271 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ and Strasburg lily
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–66’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawing is continued on folio 35 recto opposite (D04969; Turner Bequest LXXXI 67). The ‘Egremont Seapiece’, Ships Bearing up for Anchorage, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802 (Tate T03868, displayed at Petworth House, West Sussex).1 This study for it is considerably slighter than that on the preceding opening, folios 33 verso–34 recto (D04966–D04967; Turner Bequest LXXXI 64–65), though it deals with the same area of the design.
The curious floating figure at the centre here, somewhat reminiscent of a mermaid, is difficult to interpret or place in any of the subjects going forward in this book, though it may be a ship’s figurehead; see under folio 59 recto (D05017; Turner Bequest LXXXI 115).
1
Butlin and Joll 1984, p.17 no.18, pl.14 (colour).
Technical notes:
The page is oil–stained in places.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Study for ‘Ships Bearing up for Anchorage (“The Egremont Seapiece”)’; a Figure Study 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-study-for-ships-bearing-up-for-anchorage-the-egremont-r1178172, accessed 23 April 2024.