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 A Large Vessel Keeling Over c.1799-1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Large Vessel Keeling Over’ c.1799-1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 64 Recto:
A Large Vessel Keeling Over c.1799–1805
D05027
Turner Bequest LXXXI 125
Black chalk on blue laid paper, 271 x 436 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ and Strasburg lily
Inscribed by in red ink by John Ruskin ‘125’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–125’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg, describing the subject as ‘a large vessel on her side’,1 evidently read the image from the outside edge of the book, with a horizontal ‘landscape’ format. Disrupted by subsequent heavy staining, this is a slight sketch and not altogether easy to read; it might almost as plausibly be interpreted as showing a boat seen from above, running before the wind. However, the theme of a keeling vessel is consistent with the main motif of the painting The Shipwreck of 1805 (Tate N00476),2 which Turner was working out in this sketchbook; see under folio 1 verso (D04903; Turner Bequest LXXXI 2).
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.217.
2
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.43 no.54, pl.64 (colour).
Technical notes:
The page is stained with brown ink from the verso (D05028; Turner Bequest LXXXI 126).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Large Vessel Keeling Over 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-a-large-vessel-keeling-over-r1178231, accessed 23 April 2024.