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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Isle of Wight 1827 > Cowes Regatta Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Studies of a Moored Warship; Two Seated Women with ?Sails Beyond, Probably at Cowes 1827

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Studies of a Moored Warship; Two Seated Women with ?Sails Beyond, Probably at Cowes’ 1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 40 Recto:
Studies of a Moored Warship; Two Seated Women with ?Sails Beyond, Probably at Cowes 1827
D18066
Turner Bequest CCVII 40
Pencil on white wove paper, 74 x 100 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘40’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCVII – 40’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
On the right are two studies, one rather slight, probably showing the same moored warship; see also those on the verso (D18067), and compare the vessel in the 1827 painting Shipping off East Cowes Headland (Tate N01999).1 There seem to be indications of the sails of a yacht at the centre of the page, eclipsed by the sketches of two bonneted women (or the same woman twice) seated in rather ungainly poses at the bottom left. Like those on folio 19 recto (D18024) they may be attempting to preserve their modesty against the breeze while watching the yacht racing depicted on many adjacent pages. Compare also the seated figure on folio 6 verso (D18001). For more on studies in this sketchbook relating to the regatta events at Cowes from late July 1827 onwards, see the sketchbook Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.161 no.267 pl.272 (colour).

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Studies of a Moored Warship; Two Seated Women with ?Sails Beyond, Probably at Cowes 1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2014, 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-studies-of-a-moored-warship-two-seated-women-with-sails-r1183554, accessed 25 April 2024.