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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Autumn Tour of Northern France 1845 > Dieppe and Kent Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of the Sun and Clouds over a Coast 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of the Sun and Clouds over a Coast’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Recto:
Study of the Sun and Clouds over a Coast 1845
D35493
Turner Bequest CCCLXI 4
Pencil on white wove paper, 86 x 111 mm
Partial watermark ‘King | 1842’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?sky]’ top right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘4’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXI – 4’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This rapid sketch shows rays of the sun breaking through clouds over the sea. The coastline at the left appears to continue a little way across folio 3 verso opposite (D35492), where there is a very similar study the other way up which appears to continue in turn onto this page. See also the study of clouds on the verso (D35494), and the sketchbook’s Introduction for the many slight coastal views and inscribed studies of clouds and the sun over the sea scattered through it.
Technical notes:
There is some brown staining at the edge, possibly indicating water damage in the 1928 Tate flood.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Study of the Sun and Clouds over a Coast 1845 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-study-of-the-sun-and-clouds-over-a-coast-r1183918, accessed 19 April 2024.