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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Kent Coast and Whaling c.1844-5 > Ideas of Folkestone Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Twilight over the Sea, Probably at Folkestone 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Twilight over the Sea, Probably at Folkestone’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 17 Recto:
Twilight over the Sea, Probably at Folkestone 1845
D35379
Turner Bequest CCCLVI 18
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 230 x 328 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘18’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLVI–18’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The bottom half of this sheet has been painted with continuous fluid strokes of wash in pale green, blue, and pink evoking the muted tones of nightfall. The layering of wash has caused the pigments to delicately bleed and feather into one another. Daubs of vivid blue paint to the right suggest the leisurely transit of cloud across the scene. The pencil outlines of what appears to be the mast of a sailing-boat can be seen towards the right, whilst another vessel or the suggestion of land is tentatively given form on the left.

Alice Rylance-Watson
February 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Twilight over the Sea, Probably at Folkestone 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, June 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-twilight-over-the-sea-probably-at-folkestone-r1142157, accessed 22 November 2024.