Joseph Mallord William Turner Sunset behind Clouds over the Sea c.1823-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Sunset behind Clouds over the Sea c.1823–6
D25428
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 305
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 305
Watercolour on white wove paper, 306 x 468 mm
Watermark ‘J Whatman | Turkey Mills | 1819’
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 305’ bottom right
Watermark ‘J Whatman | Turkey Mills | 1819’
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 305’ 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 (317, as ‘Sunset (colour)’).
1963
J.M.W. Turner, Bridgestone Gallery, Tokyo, September–October 1963, Fine Arts Museum, Osaska, November (3, 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 (3, as ‘Sunset’, c.1820–30).
1983
J.M.W. Turner, à l’occasion du cinquantième anniversaire du British Council, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, October 1983–January 1984 (164, as ‘Coucher de soleil nuageux sur la mer’, 1825–30?, reproduced in colour).
1987
Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Tate Gallery, London, April–October 1987 (no catalogue, as ‘Study of a Sunset over the Sea’).
1993
J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Impressions de Gran Bretanya i el Continent Europeu / Impresiones de Gran Bretaña y el Continente Europeo, Centre Cultural de la Fundació ”la Caixa”, Barcelona, September–November 1993, Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación ”la Caixa”, Madrid, November 1993–January 1994 (39, as ‘Sunset over the Sea’, c.1824–6, reproduced in colour).
1994
J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Aquarelles et Dessins du Legs Turner: Collection de la Tate Gallery, Londres / Watercolours and Drawings from the Turner Bequest: Collection from the Tate Gallery, London, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi, September–December 1994 (39, as ‘Sunset over the Sea’, c.1824–6, reproduced in colour).
2007
J.M.W. Turner, National Gallery of Art, Washington, October 2007–January 2008, Dallas Museum of Art, February–May 2008, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June–September 2008 (73, as ‘Sunset over the Sea’, c.1824–6, reproduced in colour).
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.317, as ‘Sunset (colour)’.
1820
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.837, CCLXIII 305, 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.[7] no.3, 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.3, as ‘Sunset’, c.1820–30.
1983
Andrew Wilton in John Gage, Jerrold Ziff, Nicholas Alfrey and others, J.M.W. Turner, à l’occasion du cinquantième anniversaire du British Council, exhibition catalogue, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris 1983, p.233 no.164, as ‘Coucher de soleil nuageux sur la mer’, 1825–30?, reproduced in colour.
1824
Ian Warrell, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Impressions de Gran Bretanya i el Continent Europeu / Impresiones de Gran Bretaña y el Continente Europeo, exhibition catalogue, Centre Cultural de la Fundació ”la Caixa”, Barcelona 1993, p.136, reproduced in colour p.137, p.295 no.39, as ‘Sunset over the Sea’, c.1824–6.
1824
Ian Warrell, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Aquarelles et Dessins du Legs Turner: Collection de la Tate Gallery, Londres / Watercolours and Drawings from the Turner Bequest: Collection from the Tate Gallery, London, exhibition catalogue, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi 1994, p.138 no. 39, as ‘Sunset over the Sea’, c.1824–6, reproduced in colour p.[139].
1997
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Watercolour Explorations 1810–1842, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, pp.98 Appendix I ‘Liber Studiorum and “Little Liber”‘, 101 Appendix I ‘Sea Sketches and Studies’, 102 Appendix I ‘Sky Sketches’.
1824
Ian Warrell in Warrell (ed.), Franklin Kelly and others, J.M.W. Turner, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington 2007, p.111 no.73, as ‘Sunset over the Sea’, c.1824–6, reproduced in colour.
There is a glint of red at the centre where the sun has reached the horizon of the unsettled sea, tinting the rolling clouds obscuring it in a blood-like hue. This 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.2
Eric Shanes has compared this work with the canonical ‘Little Liber’ watercolour St Michael’s Mount (Tate D25434; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 311),3 and Ian Warrell has noted a similarity to the perhaps even more apocalyptic Tate D25429 (Turner Bequest CCLXIII 306).4 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).
Verso:
Blank; laid down. White wove paper backing sheet inscribed in pencil ‘76’ right of centre, ascending vertically; inscribed in pencil ‘CCLXIII.305’ bottom centre; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCLXIII – 305’ bottom left.
Matthew Imms
September 2016
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘Sunset behind 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