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 A Hulk and Sailing Boats c.1830

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Hulk and Sailing Boats’ c.1830
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 25 Recto:
A Hulk and Sailing Boats c.1830
D35800
Turner Bequest CCCLXIII 24
Pencil on white wove paper, 76 x 98 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘24’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXIII – 24’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Above a horizontal pencil dividing line, the upper half of the page is taken up with the starboard view of a hulk (a decommissioned and partially dismasted warship), possibly beached, with indications of the masts and sails of smaller vessels around it. It was presumably recorded on the coast of Kent; such vessels were used as ad hoc storage and accommodation and were frequently recorded in Turner’s sketches. This one may have a washing line strung between its masts: compare the one in the 1822 Rivers of England watercolour Rochester, on the River Medway (Tate D18156; Turner Bequest CCVIII W), and see the slighter drawing inside the front cover (D41226).

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Hulk and Sailing Boats 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-a-hulk-and-sailing-boats-r1183763, accessed 26 April 2024.