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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern Germany, the Elbe and Prague ... > Copenhagen to Dresden Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Fortifications near Copenhagen, Sailing Ships and the Swedish Flag 1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Fortifications near Copenhagen, Sailing Ships and the Swedish Flag’ 1835
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 56 Recto
Fortifications near Copenhagen, Sailing Ships and the Swedish Flag 1835
D31130
Turner Bequest CCCVII 56
Pencil on cream laid paper, 162 x 89 mm
Watermarked with a beehive surrounded by garlands and bees
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Blue yellow | Blue’ centre left towards top (inverted)
Inscribed in red ink by Ruskin ‘56’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCVII–56’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned upside down Turner depicts sailing ships at Copenhagen Harbour. The artist has also sketched the Swedish flag, probably seen on one of the ships in the harbour, inscribing it ‘Blue yellow | Blue’. Sweden lies on the opposite side of the Øresund Strait to Denmark.
With the sketchbook turned horizontally Turner also records the fortifications around Copenhagen.
For other drawings of Copenhagen see Tate D30824–D30829, D30832–D30833, D30859, D30861, D30873, D30881, D30883, D30887, D31120–D31137; Turner Bequest CCCV 2–5, 6a–7, 20, 21, 27, 31, 32, 34, CCCVII 51–59a.

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2015

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Fortifications near Copenhagen, Sailing Ships and the Swedish Flag 1835 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-fortifications-near-copenhagen-sailing-ships-and-the-swedish-r1187005, accessed 26 April 2024.