Joseph Mallord William Turner

Margate

c.1830

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

Not on display

Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Studies for Published ‘England and Wales’ Subjects
Medium
Watercolour and graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 352 × 518 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D25166
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 44

Display caption

This watercolour may be a view of Margate, as the pencil lines seem to suggest the town's cliffs and headland, and the letter 'M' is inscribed at the top of the sheet. It is an example of Turner's 'colour beginnings': sketches he made to work out compositions and to experiment with different ways of using watercolour. Turner often painted Margate, and said that the loveliest skies are 'in the Isle of Thanet'. The engravings of Margate shown here were made after the finished watercolour, which is now at the Yale Centre for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

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.

Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Left Right

In the shop

Browse the shop