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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sailing Ship at Portsmouth 1844

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Recto:
A Sailing Ship at Portsmouth 1844
D35725
Turner Bequest CCCLXII 22
Pencil on white wove paper, 74 x 116 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘22’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXII – 22’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this very slight sketch apparently shows a three-masted vessel from the starboard side, with its bowsprit rising to the right. Like the other rapid sketches in this book it presumably 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.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Sailing Ship 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-a-sailing-ship-at-portsmouth-r1185668, accessed 29 March 2024.