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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Shipping off Portsmouth, Possibly with the Square Tower Semaphore Station 1844

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Verso:
Shipping off Portsmouth, Possibly with the Square Tower Semaphore Station 1844
D35726
Turner Bequest CCCLXII 22a
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 quick sketch shows boats with a building beyond, which may be the Portsmouth’s Square Tower semaphore station with its distinctive mast. For other views, see under folio 2 verso (Tate D35688).
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.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Shipping off Portsmouth, Possibly with the Square Tower Semaphore Station 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-shipping-off-portsmouth-possibly-with-the-square-tower-r1185669, accessed 29 March 2024.