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

As identified by Finberg, this page is dedicated for the most part to annotated descriptions of uniforms.1 It follows another page two leaves previously on folio 36 verso (D17424) which describes different ranks of seafaring costume. Naval uniforms were unique in influencing a ships hierarchy. Positions issued with official garments were considered superior to those which were not, somewhat regardless of the theoretical dynamics.

The uniform sketches are situated across the bottom of the sheet and at left. The latter example demonstrates the attire of a midshipman, and is inscribed by Turner ‘Mid’. Midshipmen were usually young boys volunteering aboard a vessel in order to learn officer duties.2 Nicholas Blake and Richard Lawrence describe the midshipman uniform thus:

Turner’s sketch at far left appears to describe the torso of a midshipman in full dress. The coat is single breasted, without lapels or epaulettes, and a neat row of three buttons is picked out on the only visible cuff. Two diamond shapes either side of the figure’s neck appear to represent the erect collar outlined in Blake and Lawrence’s description. A darkly shaded belt cuts across the diagram at the waist, and the dirk – a small dagger – might be indicated hanging close to his left hip, although this is unclear. Turner also includes a tall top hat, the low brim of which seems to cover half of its model’s face.

Immediately below the midshipman uniform there is another brief description of naval costume, chiefly identified by an opulent epaulette at far left. Positioned on the right shoulder, it seems to shows the post-1812 full dress uniform of a lieutenant, characterised by a single gold epaulette worn on the right shoulder.4 The rest of the jacket is largely unelaborated, although appears to be single-breasted. A triangular shape hovering above the coat might constitute a hat. From 1800, lieutenants wore the bicorn hat.5

In the bottom left corner, a sketch inscribed at right with ‘Lieut’ describes a head and shoulders view of a naval lieutenant’s uniform, although here the distinctive epaulette seems to be absent, perhaps indicating that this is a short, practical undress coat. A similar example is illustrated in Blake and Lawrence’s text.6 Turner’s lieutenant has brief facial features and a bicorn hat on his head pulled down, the foreshortened shape of which is indeed similar to that described in less detail further up the page. The right sleeve, at far left, is inscribed with the letter ‘B’, presumably to describe the blue fabric from which the garment was predominantly fashioned. Once again, the collar is upstanding, but here the coat is double breasted and hangs open. Turner is careful again to note the row of three buttons on the visible cuff.

At bottom right a fourth drawing of a coat is accompanied by a longer inscription which runs along the bottom of the page on two lines. It was deciphered by Finberg thus: ‘Capt. the same – two epaulettes, but on wh. Collar’.7 The only differences between the official uniforms of lieutenants and captains were that the latter wore an epaulette on each shoulder, and boasted gold lace on either side of his lapels when in full dress.8 Contrary to the apparent content of Turner’s inscription, the collar of the coat remained blue for a captain under any circumstances; although the cuffs and lapels were white and he would have worn a white waistcoat, breeches, and stockings.9 The letter ‘W’ is inscribed by Turner on the left lapel, presumably as a reminder of this fact. The placement of buttons is once again neatly rendered, although the epaulettes are present only notionally via the inscription, rather than directly sketched.

To the right of the sketch of a captain’s coat Turner records two isosceles triangles facing one another to mirror-image effect. The purpose of this drawing is unclear, but seems likely to elaborate on the adjacent uniform with which Turner was occupied.

In addition to studies of uniforms, the rest of this page is filled largely with shipping paraphernalia. Roughly at centre a row of four diagonal ropes, pulled taut and apparently fixed to deadeyes, might show part of the chains ledge on a large vessel. Above this, a pulley system is described, again with diagonal ropes running through the centre. There are two additional drawings at the very top of the page; at left, a square elaborated with a circle in its top left former, a long rectangle across its right. At right, Turner repeats from a variant angle the top hat described lower down the page, on the head of the midshipman.