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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth 1844 > Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sailing Boats with Bunting at Portsmouth 1844

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sailing Boats with Bunting at Portsmouth’ 1844
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 12 Recto:
Sailing Boats with Bunting at Portsmouth 1844
D35706
Turner Bequest CCCLXII 12
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 74 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘12’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXII – 12’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turned vertically, there are two slight studies of sailing boats here, one of which is dressed with bunting;1 see also folios 16 verso, 23 verso, 25 verso, 27 verso and 31 recto and verso (D35714, D35727, D35731, D35735, D35743, D35744). Like the other rapid sketches in this book, this relates to the arrival of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, at Portsmouth Harbour on 8 October 1844, as discussed in the Introductions to the sketchbook and the overall section.
Ian Warrell has noted the ‘flags dressing the rigging of the larger French and British vessels. The yards of many of these were also manned’,2 as shown in the detailed 1846 painting Débarquement de Louis-Philippe à Portsmouth, le 8 octobre 1844 by Eugène Isabey (1803–1886; Château de Versailles).

Matthew Imms
September 2016

1
See Brown 1987, p.20, and Warrell 2013, pp.10–11.
2
Warrell 2013, ibid.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Sailing Boats with Bunting at Portsmouth 1844 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, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-sailing-boats-with-bunting-at-portsmouth-r1185651, accessed 22 November 2024.