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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Evening: A Boat on a River with a Distant Tower, ?near Petworth 1827

Evening: A Boat on a River with a Distant Tower, ?near Petworth 1827
D22666
Turner Bequest CCXLIV 4
Watercolour and gouache on blue wove paper
Stamped in black ‘CCXLIV 4’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of a large group of separate studies, most of which were made in gouache on blue paper, associated with a visit to Petworth House in West Sussex, the home of the third Earl of Egremont. For more information, see the Introduction to this section.
As the tower seen in the distance of this composition appears unconnected to Petworth Park, it has been suggested this study could show the nearby River Arun or River Rother, or perhaps Chichester Canal.1 The study certainly shares both feel and technique with many of the gouaches of Petworth’s two lakes, however, many of which are characterised by similarly dramatic sunsets (see, for example, Petworth Park, Sussex, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin2).
1
Butlin, Luther and Warrell 1989, p.148.
2
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.406 no.908
Verso:
Blank, save for inscriptions: inscribed in pencil ‘2 | l’ near centre; stamped in black with the Turner Bequest monogram and ‘CCXLIV 4’ bottom left.

Elizabeth Jacklin
December 2018

How to cite

Elizabeth Jacklin, ‘Evening: A Boat on a River with a Distant Tower, ?near Petworth 1827’, catalogue entry, December 2018, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2024, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/evening-a-boat-on-a-river-with-a-distant-tower-near-petworth-r1209067, accessed 21 May 2025.