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 The Semaphore Tower at Portsmouth; Boats 1844

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Semaphore Tower at Portsmouth; Boats’ 1844
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Verso:
The Semaphore Tower at Portsmouth; Boats 1844
D35709
Turner Bequest CCCLXII 14
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 74 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the page turned vertically, 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. As Ian Warrell has noted,1 the former Square Tower semaphore station on the east side of the harbour’s entrance is shown. For other views of the tower, see under folio 2 verso (Tate D35688); compare in particular folios 5 recto and 13 recto (Tate D35962, D35708). Towards the bottom right is a study of boats, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation.
The blank recto is inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘14’ and stamped in black ‘CCCLXII – 14’ at the bottom right. For numerous instances of blank, unaccessioned rectos in this sketchbook, see the technical notes in the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

1
See Warrell 2013, p.10.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Semaphore Tower at Portsmouth; Boats 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-the-semaphore-tower-at-portsmouth-boats-r1185654, accessed 17 July 2024.