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 The Sun and Clouds over the Sea, Perhaps at Margate 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Sun and Clouds over the Sea, Perhaps at Margate’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 105 Recto:
The Sun and Clouds over the Sea, Perhaps at Margate 1845
D35677
Turner Bequest CCCLXI 105
Pencil on white wove paper, 86 x 111 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?S... L...]’ below centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘105’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXI – 105’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The studies of the sun and clouds over the sea on folios 105 recto–108 recto (D35677–D35783) and inside the back cover (D41151) were perhaps all made from the vicinity of Mrs Booth’s house in Margate, looking north over the beach, a favourite vantage point for the artist (see for example the group of ‘Margate Beach Scenes’ in the ‘Margate, London and Surrey c.1829–45’ section of this catalogue). The lighthouse on the adjacent pier may be shown in D35681, and neighbouring Droit House in D35683. For other Margate views, see under folio 99 verso (D35666).
Turner’s brief inscription across the foreground here is presumably some comment on the conditions or appearance of the shore, such as ‘Sand’ or ‘Sea Light’ (compare for example folio 106 recto; D35679) or ‘Sea Low’.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Sun and Clouds over the Sea, Perhaps at Margate 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-the-sun-and-clouds-over-the-sea-perhaps-at-margate-r1184092, accessed 26 April 2024.