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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Perspective lectures c.1809-28 > Perspective Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Men Loading a Boat with Grass c.1809

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Men Loading a Boat with Grass’ c.1809
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Recto:
Men Loading a Boat with Grass circa 1809
D07355
Turner Bequest CVIII 1
Pen and ink on white wove paper, 88 x 115 mm
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Men Loading a Boat with Grass [?made for Sp...]’ bottom edge
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘1’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CVIII – 1’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The significance of the subject is unclear; Turner presumably observed the scene. The last word is possibly ‘sprue’, a form of asparagus. There are pencil drawings of figures and boats later in the sketchbook, on folios 6 recto, 8 verso, 9 verso, 10 verso and 11 verso (D07365, D07369, D07371, D07373, D07375).
Technical notes:
There is some brown staining to the sheet.

Matthew Imms
June 2008

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Men Loading a Boat with Grass c.1809 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-men-loading-a-boat-with-grass-r1136550, accessed 22 November 2024.