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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Margate, London and Surrey c.1829-45 > Kent Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Boats off the Coast of Kent; a Group of Figures c.1830

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Boats off the Coast of Kent; a Group of Figures’ c.1830
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 15 Recto:
Boats off the Coast of Kent; a Group of Figures c.1830
D35785
Turner Bequest CCCLXIII 15
Pencil on white wove paper, 76 x 98 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?R...d Kent Hazy]’ top right, ‘GP’ at centre, ‘ [?W...]’ centre right and ‘[?Red | ...]’ towards bottom left
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘15’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXIII – 15’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, at the outer edge is what appears to be a coastal scene with boats, with some shading and clouds in the sky and what seem to be notes describing hazy conditions off Kent. For identified subjects in the east of that county, see the sketchbook’s Introduction.
Below is a rapid study of a group of figures, apparently with headgear which may include bonnets and sou’westers, annotated with typically brief colour notes. The circumstances are unclear, but they may have been observed on a boat or quayside. There are other groups of figures on folio 14 verso opposite (D35784), and across folios 28 verso–29 recto (D35807–D35808; Turner Bequest CCCLXIII 27v–28); Finberg though the latter were passengers ‘on board a packet’.1

Matthew Imms
September 2016

1
Finberg 1909, II, p.1178.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Boats off the Coast of Kent; a Group of Figures c.1830 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-boats-off-the-coast-of-kent-a-group-of-figures-r1183748, accessed 20 April 2024.