Oil paint on canvas
Isle of Wight
Tate Collection
Works with images
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner Bequest
Oil paintings
Collection
Turner owned by Tate
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner-558" aria-label="More by Joseph Mallord William Turner" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Mallord William Turner</a>
Between Decks
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
artillery
couple
deck
England
England, South East
England, Southern
family
husband
Isle of Wight
man
military
objects
people
places
sailor
sea
seascapes and coasts
sex and relationships
ship, warship
sitting
society
Solent
talking
transport: water
UK counties
UK countries and regions
UK natural features
weapons
wife
woman
work and occupations
<p>Turner made this sketch in 1827 showing fellow spectators at the Cowes Regatta. It appears to have been painted on board a man-of-war naval ship. Turner may have painted the sketches of yachts racing in Cowes, on display nearby, from the same ship. This sketch was never turned into a finished painting.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2020</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
10 April 2006 – 12 March 2007
2007-03-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2006-04-10
Impressions and Ideas Turner's Oil Sketches and Studies
Collection based display
6 April 2020 – 27 November 2022
2022-11-27
6 April 2020
2020-04-06
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2020-04-06
Clore 105
Collection based display
Between Decks
support: 305 × 486 mm
frame: 509 × 680 × 105 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the <a href="/search?gid=999999781" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Turner Bequest</a> 1856
<div class="text">
<p>Turner made this sketch in 1827 showing fellow spectators at the Cowes Regatta. It appears to have been painted on board a man-of-war naval ship. Turner may have painted the sketches of yachts racing in Cowes, on display nearby, from the same ship. This sketch was never turned into a finished painting.</p>
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Display caption
2020-07-01T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p>[from]<b> Nos. 260–8: Cowes Sketches, 1827 </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-starting-for-their-moorings-no-1-n01998" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01998</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-study-of-sea-and-sky-isle-of-wight-n02001" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02001</span></a>]</p>
<p>TURNER revisited the Isle of Wight in late July and August 1827, staying with the architect John Nash at East Cowes Castle. In an undated letter he asked his father to send one or if possible two pieces of unstretched <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a>, either a piece measuring 6 ft by 4 ft or a ‘whole length’, and it was on a 6 ft by 4 ft canvas, cut into two, that he painted these nine sketches. The 1854 Schedule of the Turner Bequest listed, under nos. 203 to 206, 207 to 210, 211 to 214, and 215 to 218, four ‘Roll[s] containing 4 subjects’. Despite the fact that one of the Cowes canvases contained five sketches the two rolls were probably among these four. They were rediscovered at the National Gallery in 1905 and divided into separate pieces. One roll contained Nos. 260 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-beating-to-windward-no-1-n01995" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01995</span></a>], 262 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-beating-to-windward-no-3-n01993" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01993</span></a>], 264 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-starting-for-their-moorings-no-2-n02000" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02000</span></a>], 266 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-between-decks-n01996" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01996</span></a>] and 268 [<span>N02001</span>] and the other Nos. 261 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-beating-to-windward-no-2-n01994" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01994</span></a>], 263 [<span>N01998</span>], 265 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-starting-for-their-moorings-no-3-n01997" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01997</span></a>] and 267 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-shipping-off-east-cowes-headland-n01999" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01999</span></a>].</p>
<p>No record was made of the placing of the sketches on the two rolls on canvas, but to a certain extent this can be reconstructed. On the first roll the two largest sketches, Nos. 264 [<span>N02000</span>] and 262 [<span>N01993</span>], were one above the other, flanked on the left by Nos. 266 [<span>N01996</span>], 260 [<span>N01995</span>] (both upside down) and 268 [<span>N02001</span>]. On the other Nos. 267 [<span>N01999</span>] and 263 [<span>N01998</span>] were at the top, Nos. 265 [<span>N01997</span>] and 261 [<span>N01994</span>] below; No. 261 [<span>N01994</span>] was definitely to the right of No. 265 [<span>N01997</span>], and No. 267 [<span>N01999</span>] seems to have been above No. 265 [<span>N01997</span>].</p>
<p>It has been suggested by Graham Reynolds that at least some of these sketches were painted on the spot, though the practical difficulties, especially when the artist was out at sea, would have been considerable. As Evelyn Joll has suggested, a clue as to where Turner may have done the sketches is given by the sketch <i>Between Decks</i> (No. 266 [<span>N01996</span>]). This appears to have been painted a board a man-of-war and there seems no reason why Turner could not have painted the sketches of yachts racing from a ship anchored of Cowes Roads. If so, Turner's vantage point would seem to have been on a ship rather further offshore than the guardship that can be seen in Nos. 242, 261 [<span>N01994</span>] and 262 [<span>N01993</span>]. It is interesting that the three sketches for <i>The Regatta beating to Windward</i> would seem to have been painted alternately on each roll, No. 260 [<span>N01995</span>] on the first, No. 261 [<span>N01994</span>] on the second, and No. 262 [<span>N01993</span>] again on the first; this could have been to allow an assistant time to adjust the roll for a new sketch.</p>
<p>The ‘Windsor and Cowes’ sketchbook (CCXXVI) contains <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> of boats racing, boats at anchor, views of the coast and figure studies, though none directly related to the oil sketches, which to a certain extent supports the suggestion that they were done on the spot. It also contains a list of the boats with their names, the names of their owners, and their colours, showing just how detailed was Turner's interest in the Regatta (CCXXVI-80 <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/recto-verso" title="Glossary definition for 'Recto / Verso'"><span>verso</span></a>).</p>
<p>The two groups of sketches of the Regatta were used for the pictures commissioned by John Nash and exhibited the following year (see Nos. 242 and 243). The other three, including <i>Between Decks</i>, were not used for more finished pictures.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> MacColl 1920, pp. 31–3; Reynolds 1969<sup>2</sup>, pp. 67–72.</p>
<p><b>266. </b>[<span>N01996</span>]<b> Between Decks</b> 1827</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (1996)</p>
<p>Canvas, 12 × 19 1/8 (30·5 × 48·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (? one of 203–18; see p. 159); transferred to the Tate Gallery. 1906.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> <i>British Narrative Paintings</i> C.E.M.A. tour 1944 (35); R.A. 1974–5 (318); Paris 1983–4 (40, repr.).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 39; Reynolds 1969<sup>2</sup>, p. 72, pl. 5; Herrmann 1975, p. 33, pl. 121.</p>
<p>One of the five sketches from the first roll of canvas used at Cowes in 1827. This may be a scene of visitors on board the naval guardship seen in the background of Nos. 261–62 [<span>N01993</span>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-thames-above-waterloo-bridge-n01992" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01992</span></a>]; it could alternatively reflect the practice, up to about 1805 and perhaps later, of accommodating sailors' wives between the upper and lower decks when a ship was in port. For a suggestion that the ship was rather further offshore than the guardship, and was the base from which Turner painted his sketches of yachts racing, see p. 159.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults artillery couple deck England England, South East England, Southern family husband Isle of Wight man military objects people places sailor sea seascapes and coasts sex and relationships ship, warship sitting society Solent talking transport: water UK counties UK countries and regions UK natural features weapons wife woman work and occupations