Joseph Mallord William Turner 'The Black Boat'; Vignette Study for the Boat in 'The Andes Coast' for Campbell's 'Poetical Works' c.1835-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
‘The Black Boat’; Vignette Study for the Boat in ‘The Andes Coast’ for Campbell’s ‘Poetical Works’ circa 1835–6
D27726
Turner Bequest CCLXXX 209
Turner Bequest CCLXXX 209
Watercolour, approximately 125 x 160 mm on white wove paper, 210 x 276 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXX 209’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXX 209’ 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 (724).
1972
J.M.W. Turner: Gemäld Aquarelle, Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, September–November 1972 (73, reproduced in colour, as ‘The Black Boat’).
1973
Turner {1775 / 1851}: desenhos, aguarelas e óleos / Drawings, Watercolours and Oil Paintings, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, June–July 1973 (41, reproduced in colour, as ‘The Black Boat’).
1974
Turner 1775–1851, Royal Academy, London, November 1974–March 1975 (284, reproduced, as ‘The Black Boat’).
1975
Turner 1775–1851: zhivopis', risunok, akvarel', Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, October–November 1975, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, December 1975–January 1976 (26, reproduced, as ‘The Black Boat’).
1981
J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) / ¿¿.¿.G. ¿e¿¿e¿ (1775–1851), National Pinakothiki, Athens, January–March 1981 (31, reproduced in colour, as ‘The Black Boat’).
1982
Turner and the Sea: Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Loaned by the British Museum, Tate Gallery, London, January–June 1982 (no catalogue, as ‘The Black Boat’).
2005
Turner: the Sea, Tate Britain, London, March–October 2005, Tate Liverpool, November 2005–April 2006 (no catalogue).
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings in the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.905, as ‘Black boat’.
1972
Werner Haftmann, Andrew Wilton, Henning Bock and others, J.M.W. Turner: Gemälde Aquarelle, exhibition catalogue, Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, September–November 1972, p.121 no.73, p.92, reproduced Tafel 30b (colour).
1973
Norman Reid, Andrew Wilton and Luke Herrmann, Turner {1775 / 1851}: desenhos, aguarelas e óleos / Drawings, Watercolours and Oil Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon 1973, pp.27, 110 no.41, reproduced 111 (colour).
1974
Martin Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London 1974, p.100 no.284, reproduced.
1975
Graham Reynolds, Turner 1775–1851: zhivopis', risunok, akvarel', exhibition catalogue, Hermitage Museum, Leningrad 1975, p.31 no.26, reproduced, 61.
1981
Dimitrios Papastamos, John Gage and Lindsay Stainton, J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) / ¿¿.¿.G. ¿e¿¿e¿ (1775–1851), exhibition catalogue, National Pinakothiki, Athens 1981, p.106 no.31, p.95 reproduced.
1993
Jan Piggott, Turner’s Vignettes, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1993, p.97.
This watercolour sketch of a ship sailing beneath gathering storm clouds has been identified by Jan Piggott as a preparatory study for The Andes Coast,1 circa 1835 (National Gallery of Scotland), a vignette illustration designed by Turner for Edward Moxon’s 1837 edition of Thomas Campbell’s Poetical Works.2 The finished watercolour was engraved by Edward Goodall and published to accompany the poem ‘The Pleasures of Hope’.3
The dark palette and ominous tone of the sketch, commonly known as The Black Boat, bear little resemblance to the final version of The Andes Coast. The disparity between them may indicate that Turner designed the study in response to a different passage in Campbell’s poem. The vignette is usually associated with the following lines from ‘The Pleasures of Hope’:
Lo! To the wintry winds the pilot yields
His bark careering o’er unfathom’d fields;
Now on Atlantic waves he rides afar,
Where Andes, giant of the western star,
With meteor-standard to the winds unfurl’d.
Looks from his throne of clouds o’er half the world!
(Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, 1837, pp.3–4)
His bark careering o’er unfathom’d fields;
Now on Atlantic waves he rides afar,
Where Andes, giant of the western star,
With meteor-standard to the winds unfurl’d.
Looks from his throne of clouds o’er half the world!
(Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, 1837, pp.3–4)
However, the stormy, threatening sky of this early vision seems especially well suited to a darker and more menacing section of the poem as described in the following lines:
Now far he sweeps, where scarce a summer smiles,
On Behring’s rocks, or Greenland’s naked isles:
Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow,
From wastes that slumber in eternal snow;
And waft, across the waves’ tumultuous roar,
The wolf’s long howl from Oonalaska’s shore.
Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm,
Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form!
Rocks, waves, and winds, the shatter’d bark delay;
Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away.
But Hope can here her moonlight vigils keep,
And sing to charm the spirit of the deep:
Swift as yon streamer lights the starry pole,
Her visions warm the watchman’s pensive soul
(Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, 1837, p.4)
On Behring’s rocks, or Greenland’s naked isles:
Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow,
From wastes that slumber in eternal snow;
And waft, across the waves’ tumultuous roar,
The wolf’s long howl from Oonalaska’s shore.
Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm,
Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form!
Rocks, waves, and winds, the shatter’d bark delay;
Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away.
But Hope can here her moonlight vigils keep,
And sing to charm the spirit of the deep:
Swift as yon streamer lights the starry pole,
Her visions warm the watchman’s pensive soul
(Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, 1837, p.4)
There are seven other studies possibly related to The Andes Coast (see Tate D27524; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 7).
Verso:
Blank
Meredith Gamer
August 2006
How to cite
Meredith Gamer, ‘‘The Black Boat’; Vignette Study for the Boat in ‘The Andes Coast’ for Campbell’s ‘Poetical Works’ c.1835–6 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2006, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www