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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Brighton and Copies from Wilson 1796-7 > Wilson Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunset at Sea, with a Lighthouse and Ship 1796-7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sunset at Sea, with a Lighthouse and Ship’ 1796-7
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Verso:
Sunset at Sea, with a Lighthouse and Ship 1796–7
D01125
Turner Bequest XXXVII 8
Watercolour and gouache on blue laid wrapping paper prepared with a red-brown wash, 113 x 93 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXXVII – 8’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Although this subject appears to be complete in itself, the drawing opposite on folio 5 recto (D01126; Turner Bequest XXXVII 9), seems cramped and unsatisfactory, requiring extension on a page that is now missing. The recto of that page would perhaps have supplied an expansion of this moonlit seascape in conformity with other views over water in this book, on folios 1 verso–2 recto and 32 verso–33 recto (D01119–D01120, D01183–D01184; Turner Bequest XXXVII 2–3, 66–67); however, compare the single-sheet study of a sunset (or moonrise?) over the sea on folio 56 verso (D01231; Turner Bequest XXXVII 114).

Andrew Wilton
September 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Sunset at Sea, with a Lighthouse and Ship 1796–7 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-sunset-at-sea-with-a-lighthouse-and-ship-r1149817, accessed 20 May 2024.