Ships bearing up for Anchorage ('The Egremont Seapiece')
Joseph Mallord William Turner, RA (London 1775 - Chelsea 1851)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1801 - 1802 (exh at RA)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1120 x 1830 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486621
Caption
This was possibly the first painting by Turner to enter the 3rd Earl of Egremont’s collection, probably from the 1802 Royal Academy exhibition and certainly by 1805. The numerous preliminary studies for this early masterpiece indicate Turner’s care to depict accurately ships sailing, coming up into the wind, shortening sail and dropping anchor.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Ships bearing up for Anchorage ('The Egremont Seapiece') by Joseph Mallord William Turner, RA (London 1775 - Chelsea 1851), signed ‘J M W Turner pinx’ lower right, 1802. A stormy sea and sky, with five ships clustered in the centre, two heading towards the viewer, one at left, elongated and parallel to the horizon.
Provenance
Bought from Turner by George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) possibly in 1802 at the Royal Academy and thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by HM Treasury. Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax. Allocated to Tate in 1984 and on long-term loan from Tate to the National Trust at Petworth.
Credit line
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of tax and allocated to the Tate Gallery 1984. In situ at Petworth House
Marks and inscriptions
J M W Turner pinx (lower right)
Makers and roles
Joseph Mallord William Turner, RA (London 1775 - Chelsea 1851), artist
Exhibition history
Turner and the Sea, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich , 2013 - 2014, no.72
References
Butlin and Joll 1977 & 1984: Martin Butlin & Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, New Haven and London, 1977 & revised edn., 1984 Turner and the Sea, Royal Museums Greenwich, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, 22 November 2013 – 21 April 2014 and Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, USA, 31 May -1 September 2014, 72