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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth 1844 > Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Portsmouth, with the Semaphore Tower; the Waterfront at Portsmouth 1844

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Portsmouth, with the Semaphore Tower; the Waterfront at Portsmouth’ 1844
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 2 Verso:
Portsmouth, with the Semaphore Tower; the Waterfront at Portsmouth 1844
D35688
Turner Bequest CCCLXII 2a
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 74 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Like the other rapid sketches in this book, this relates to the arrival of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, at Portsmouth Harbour on 8 October 1844, as discussed in the Introductions to the sketchbook and the overall section.
With the page turned vertically, Turner has noted the mast of the semaphore station then above the Square Tower on the east side of the entrance to the harbour. Compare a drawing perhaps made in the summer of 1824 in the London Bridge and Portsmouth sketchbook (Tate D17913; Turner Bequest CCVI 1), among others on that page. See also folios 5 recto, 13 recto, 14 verso, 15 recto and 16 recto, 22 verso and possibly 27 verso of the present book (D35692, D35708, D35709, D35711, D35713, D35726, D35735).
The slight sketch made at right-angles presumably shows the waterfront in the vicinity, as do sketches on folio 3 recto opposite (D35689), of which this may be a continuation.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Portsmouth, with the Semaphore Tower; the Waterfront at Portsmouth 1844 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, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-portsmouth-with-the-semaphore-tower-the-waterfront-at-r1185637, accessed 19 April 2024.