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

This is one of three colour studies on grey paper (Tate D32191, D32202, D32203; Turner Bequest CCCXVII 12, 17, 18) included in the present grouping of Venice Lagoon subjects. Only the last of these has previously been proposed in recent years as relating to Turner’s 1840 visit. The other two are included here tentatively by association in terms of the similarity of their grey paper supports (see the technical notes below) and their having originally been included in the ‘Venice: Miscellaneous. (b) Grey Paper’ section of Finberg’s 1909 Inventory, albeit the present work was among a handful (D32185–D32191; CCCXVII 6–12) on similar paper of which he noted ‘some – probably all ... are not Venetian subjects’, but likely ‘done at the same time’,1 while the other two were given generic titles. D32185–D32190 are included elsewhere in the present tour.

The subject here, with silhouetted figures perhaps with a beached boat or on a pontoon in the shallows in the foreground, is comparable in its sparse articulation of space with watercolours identified more positively as Lagoon views (see D32162, D36192; Turner Bequest CCCXVI 25, CCCLXIV 334). The central sunset was a common motif for Turner (see the ‘Colour Studies of the Sun, Skies and Clouds c.1815–45’ section of this catalogue), deriving ultimately from the seaport paintings of the French-born, Rome-based artist Claude Lorrain (1604/5–1682).2 Compare the sunset over water in D32203, another of the grey paper sheets in this subsection as mentioned above, as well as a view of Barnstaple Bridge in Devon from about 1814 (Tate D25443; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 320), showing his long-standing use of the striking compositional device.

Writing in 1857, John Ruskin considered this study ‘of consummate work’.3 Reflecting the later tendency to regard Turner as a precursor to the Impressionists, C.A. Swinburne included it among ‘numerous studies of waves as influenced by tides and storms’, which ‘explain how and why it was that he became a master of marine painting. There is no studio work in them; they are all reproductions of nature, and bear nature’s mark upon them’.4

Technical notes:

There is no underlying pencil work. The more densely applied colours around the centre remain bright, although the thinner washes appear dimmer, partly owing to the centre of the sheet having darkened considerably through prolonged display in the nineteenth century; only the edges are unaffected, having been protected by a mount at that time. The scratched out trail of the sun’s reflection, heightened with white, is possibly affected by ingrained dust.

As it was not identified there as a Venice subject, this sheet is not included in Ian Warrell’s survey of the papers used on Turner’s visits to the city,1 where others from Turner Bequest section CCCXVII are listed as on English Bally, Ellen and Steart grey paper (see under D32203), used in 1840 (and possibly in a few cases in 1833); whether the present visually similar sheet is from the same source remains to be confirmed. Subjects encountered on the way to and from the city on that occasion, now scattered through the Bequest but including D32185–D32190 (CCCXVII 6–11), are on sheets by the same maker, as noted by Cecilia Powell.2

Verso:

Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘18’ top centre, ascending vertically, and ‘574B’ top centre; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCCXVII – 12’ below right of centre; inscribed in pencil ‘D32191’ bottom right.