Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunset through Dark Clouds ?over the Sea c.1823-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
Sunset through Dark Clouds ?over the Sea
c.1823-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Sunset through Dark Clouds ?over the Sea c.1823–6
D25429
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 306
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 306
Watercolour on white wove paper, 275 x 468 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 306’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 306’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1904
National Gallery, London, various dates to at least 1904 (318, as ‘Sunset (colour)’).
1963
J.M.W. Turner, Bridgestone Gallery, Tokyo, September–October 1963, Fine Arts Museum, Osaska, November (4, as ‘Sunset’, reproduced).
1964
Turner 1775–1851: Watercolours from the British Museum, London, Presented in Association with the British Council, City Hall Art Gallery, Hong Kong, January 1964 (4, as ‘Sunset’, c.1820–30).
1971
Watercolours by J.M.W. Turner (1778 [sic] –1851): Lent by the Trustees of the British Museum, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, January–March 1971 (18, as ‘Sunset’).
1975
Turner in the British Museum: Drawings and Watercolours, Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, London, May 1975–February 1976 (100, as ‘The setting sun among dark clouds’, c.1825, reproduced in colour).
1976
William Turner und die Landschaft seiner Zeit, Hamburger Kunsthalle, May–July 1976 (117, as ‘Untergehende Sonne zwischen dunklen Wolken’, c.1825, reproduced).
1979
J.M.W. Turner: Sea, Sky and Sun: Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Loaned by the British Museum, Tate Gallery, London, December 1979–July 1980 (no catalogue, as ‘Sunset’).
1988
Summer Miscellany: Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Tate Gallery, London, July–October 1988 (no catalogue, as ‘Sunset and dark Clouds over the Sea’).
1990
Karl Blechen: Zwischen Romantik und Realismus, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, August–November 1990 (412, as ‘Untergehende Sonne swischen dunklen Wolken’, c.1825, reproduced).
1995
Making & Meaning: Turner: The Fighting Temeraire, National Gallery, London, July–October 1995 (60, as ‘Sun setting among dark clouds’, c.1825–30, reproduced in colour).
2012
Celmins Selects Turner, Tate Britain, London, May 2012–March 2013 (no catalogue).
References
1904
E.T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn eds., Library Edition: The Works of John Ruskin: Volume XIII: Turner: The Harbours of England; Catalogues and Notes, London 1904, p.624 no.318, as ‘Sunset (colour)’.
1820
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.837, CCLXIII 306, as ‘Sunset’, c.1820–30.
1963
Basil Gray, Edward Croft-Murray and Martin Butlin, J.M.W. Turner, exhibition catalogue, Bridgestone Gallery, Tokyo 1963, p.[8] no.4, as ‘Sunset’, reproduced.
1820
Basil Gray, Edward Croft-Murray and Martin Butlin, Turner 1775–1851: An Exhibition of Watercolours from the British Museum London, Presented in Association with the British Council, exhibition catalogue, City Hall Art Gallery, Hong Kong 1964, p.10 no.4, as ‘Sunset’, c.1820–30.
1971
Watercolours by J.M.W. Turner (1778 [sic] –1851): Lent by the Trustees of the British Museum, exhibition catalogue, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal 1971, p.[13] no.18, as ‘Sunset’.
1825
Andrew Wilton, Turner in the British Museum: Drawings and Watercolours, exhibition catalogue, Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, London 1975, p.72 no.100, as ‘The sun setting among dark clouds’, c.1825, reproduced in colour p.80.
1825
Andrew Wilton in Werner Hofmann, Wilton, Siegmar Hosten and others, William Turner und die Landschaft seiner Zeit, exhibition catalogue, Hamburger Kunsthalle 1976, p.158 no.117, as ‘Untergehende Sonne zwischen dunklen Wolken’, c.1825, reproduced.
1987
Andrew Wilton, Turner Watercolours in the Clore Gallery, London 1987, pl.38 (colour), as ‘CCCLXIII’ 306, ‘The sun setting among dark clouds’, c.1826.
1825
Andrea Bärnreuther in Peter-Klaus Schuster and others, Karl Blechen: Zwischen Romantik und Realismus, exhibition catalogue, Nationalgalerie, Berlin 1990, p.265 no.412, as ‘Untergehende Sonne swischen dunklen Wolken’, c.1825, reproduced.
1826
Michael Bockemühl, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Die Welt des Lichts und der Farbe, Cologne 1991, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: The World of Light and Colour, trans. Michael Claridge, Cologne 1993, p. 38 reproduced in colour p.38, as ‘Sun Setting among Dark Clouds, c.1826.
1825
Judy Egerton in Egerton, Martin Wyld and Ashok Roy, Making & Meaning: Turner: The Fighting Temeraire, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery, London 1995, pp.93, 136 no.60, as ‘Sun setting among dark clouds’, c.1825–30, pl.64 (colour).
1997
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Watercolour Explorations 1810–1842, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p.102 Appendix I ‘Sky Sketches’.
2007
Ian Warrell in Warrell (ed.), Franklin Kelly and others, J.M.W. Turner, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington 2007, p.111 under no.73.
The fiery disk of the setting sun at the centre above what may be the sea (apparently with a subdued hint of reflection) is lightly veiled by a bank of cloud at the horizon, while another formation arches over it towards the blood-like washes of the upper sky like the wing of a huge bird or mythical creature. This apocalyptic reading may not be too fanciful in light of the similar effect of threatening rain clouds over the sea as late as 1845 in the Ambleteuse and Wimereux sketchbook (Tate D35397–D35399; Turner Bequest CCCLVII 11, 11a, 12). The present strongly toned, velvety-textured ‘Little Liber’-like design1 may show the direct influence of Francis Danby’s 1824 painting Sunset at Sea after a Storm (Bristol Museum and Art Gallery), a sensation on its first appearance, as discussed in the overall Introduction to the present section.
While Judy Egerton has observed that the ‘effect of part of the sombre cloud bank seeming to be flung momentarily upwards by the dying light is echoed’ in the ‘Little Liber’ subject Bridge and Monument (see Tate D17193; Turner Bequest CXCVII C),2 Ian Warrell has noted a more direct similarity to another study of sunset at sea (Tate D25428; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 305).3 The effect clearly stayed with Turner, as he made a similarly intense variation in the Whalers sketchbook of about 1845 (Tate D35240; Turner Bequest CCCLIII 1).
As the focus of the composition, the sun appears to have been reserved initially. The reds which impart an almost three-dimensional, globular quality have been modified by the use of the artist’s fingertips or palm; compare the treatment of the moon Tate D25305 (Turner Bequest CCLXIII 183).
Verso:
Blank; laid down. White wove paper backing sheet inscribed in pencil ‘77’ right of centre, ascending vertically; inscribed in pencil ‘CCLXIII.306’ bottom centre; stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 306’ bottom left.
Matthew Imms
September 2016
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘Sunset through Dark Clouds ?over the Sea c.1823–6 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2016, https://www