Prints and Drawings Room
View by appointment- Artist
- Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
- Medium
- Gouache and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- Support: 182 × 226 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
- Reference
- D25460
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 337
Display caption
This colour study is typical of the hundreds of experimental sketches
that Turner habitually made as part of
his process of painting in watercolour. He used them to test how his paper reacted to his colours, to lay out compositions, and to recreate atmospheric effects. Many were produced in batches, with Turner moving from sheet to sheet as
if he was on a production line.
Turner had always been greatly
interested in the sky but, like his contemporary John Constable, his
interest in making cloud and sky
studies seems to have been especially heightened in the years around 1820.
Gallery label, September 2004
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
