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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Colour Studies of the Sun, Skies and ... > Colour Studies of the Sun and Clouds at ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Clouds above Water at Dawn or Sunset c.1820-40

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Clouds above Water at Dawn or Sunset’ c.1820-40
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Clouds above Water at Dawn or Sunset c.1820–40
D25476
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 353
Watercolour on white wove paper, 306 x 487 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 353’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The pale blue and pink tints of the clouds and sky suggest sunset, as Finberg thought, or perhaps more likely dawn, reflected in a sheet of open water.
Technical notes:
The sheet is much yellowed from prolonged exposure while on display; the fresher, cooler colours Turner intended are evident to the left and right where the edges were formerly protected by a mount.
Verso:
Blank; no inscriptions. There are slight marks resembling a cat’s paw prints; such animals reportedly roamed Turner’s house and studio1 (compare the verso of Tate D25258; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 136).

Matthew Imms
March 2016

1
See for example James Hamilton, Turner: A Life, London 1997, p.304.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Clouds above Water at Dawn or Sunset c.1820–40 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-clouds-above-water-at-dawn-or-sunset-r1183181, accessed 26 April 2024.