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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Sea c.1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Sea’ c.1845
The Sea c.1845
D35249
Turner Bequest CCCLIII 10
Chalk and watercolour on white wove paper prepared with a grey wash, 222 x 330 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘10’ bottom right (much faded and smudged)
Stamped in black ‘CCCLIII 10’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The scene is seemingly taken from a viewpoint looking out to sea from the shore, highlighted in brilliant yellow chalk. The strip of white chalk at the horizon may represent the sun’s reflected light, and the strip of blue watercolour a distant land mass or peninsula. In common with other drawings in the Whalers sketchbook, the sea is rendered in an ominous deep black chalk.
This palette is consistent with other leaves in this sketchbook, suggesting that here, too, Turner was imagining the intimidating environment of the Arctic. He perhaps learned of the conditions in the Arctic via his acquaintance with George William Manby, who in 1821 published a book about his experience of sailing to Greenland in 1821.1
1
Barry Venning, ‘Turner’s Whaling Subjects’, The Burlington Magazine, vol.127, February 1985, p.76.
Technical Notes:
In common with others in this sketchbook, the leaf is loose of its binding. Spots of the pigment used to prepare the ground have formed; this is particularly prominent on the upper right-hand side. This is likely to be the result of damage in the Tate Gallery flood of 1928.
Verso:
Blank, with some discolouration and offsetting in black chalk.

Amy Concannon
May 2025

How to cite

Amy Concannon, ‘The Sea c.1845’, catalogue entry, May 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2026, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/the-sea-r1214157, accessed 11 July 2026.