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 The 'Gomer' Arriving in Portsmouth Harbour, Attended by Boats 1844

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The 'Gomer' Arriving in Portsmouth Harbour, Attended by Boats’ 1844
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Verso:
The ‘Gomer’ Arriving in Portsmouth Harbour, Attended by Boats 1844
D35704
Turner Bequest CCCLXII 11
Pencil on white wove paper, 74 x 116 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this slight drawing seems to show the starboard side the large hybrid sail-steamship Gomer, which carried Louis-Philippe, King of the French, into Portsmouth Harbour on 8 October 1844. It was characterised by its high paddle wheel housing amidships, which appears to be the feature towards the right here. The diagonal marks at the centre may be the steps by which the king descended as shown in the detailed 1846 painting Débarquement de Louis-Philippe à Portsmouth, le 8 octobre 1844 by Eugène Isabey (1803–1886; Château de Versailles).
Off what seems to be the stern to the left are probably small boats of the sort shown by Isabey. Compare folios 6 verso, 17 verso–18 recto and 18 verso (D35695, D35716–D35718) and see under folio 1 verso (D35686). See also the watercolour study Tate D35959 (Turner Bequest CCCLXIV 116). There are many other rapid drawings in this book relating to Louis-Philippe’s arrival, as discussed in the Introductions to the sketchbook and the overall section.
The blank recto is inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘11’ and stamped in black ‘CCCLXII – 11’ at the bottom right. For numerous instances of blank, unaccessioned rectos in this sketchbook, see the technical notes in the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The ‘Gomer’ Arriving in Portsmouth Harbour, Attended by Boats 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-the-gomer-arriving-in-portsmouth-harbour-attended-by-boats-r1185650, accessed 26 April 2024.