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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Folkestone and the Medway c.1821-2 > Medway Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Three Views of the Stern of a Warship c.1821

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Three Views of the Stern of a Warship’ c.1821
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 9 Recto:
Three Views of the Stern of a Warship c.1821
D17380
Turner Bequest CXCIX 9
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 190 mm
Partial watermark ‘R Bar | 18’
Stamped in black ‘CXCIX – 9’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As described by Finberg, here Turner makes three studies of the elaborate stern of a warship.1 The drawings are concentrated at right. The largest example offers a view of gun ports along a small portion of the hull. At bottom left, the lid of one of these ports is shown half-open, demonstrating the functionality of the features as well as their placement. At right, beneath the stern, Turner records the rudder head. The windows of the gallery are indicated here as well, but fully described in the other two examples. These are positioned further right, towards the edge of the paper. They both adopt a more square view of the stern, and clearly show the rudder head, although the lower rendering is more briefly realised. In the higher sketch, the ensign staff is recorded in its position atop the stern.
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.607.
Verso:
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Maud Whatley
January 2016

How to cite

Maud Whatley, ‘Three Views of the Stern of a Warship c.1821 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-three-views-of-the-stern-of-a-warship-r1184657, accessed 23 November 2024.