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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Architectural and Other Subjects c.1797 ... > Academical Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Composition with a Flaming Beacon and ?a Temple near a Harbour c.1798-9

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Composition with a Flaming Beacon and ?a Temple near a Harbour’ c.1798-9
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 12 Recto:
Composition with a Flaming Beacon and ?a Temple near a Harbour c.1798–9
D01827
Turner Bequest XLIII 11
Pencil and white chalk on blue laid paper prepared with a red-brown ground, 140 x 216 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘11’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XLIII – 11’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, with its summarily indicated ships, buildings and flare, this rough diagrammatic sketch evokes in a bare minimum of lines a romantic harbour scene by moonlight. The most likely subject to have been in Turner’s mind is the story of the mythical Hero and Leander, for which there is a drawing in the Calais Pier sketchbook (Tate D04959; Turner Bequest LXXXI 57). He did not complete a picture on this subject until 1837, when he showed The Parting of Hero and Leander at the Royal Academy (National Gallery, London).1
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London, 1984, pp.221–2 no.370, pl.374 (colour).
Verso:
Blank, prepared with a red-brown ground. Chalk is offset from folio 13 recto opposite (D01828; Turner Bequest XLIII 12).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Composition with a Flaming Beacon and ?a Temple near a Harbour c.1798–9 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-composition-with-a-flaming-beacon-and-a-temple-near-a-r1174027, accessed 17 July 2024.