Oil paint on canvas
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>
Departure Fleet
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
actions: expressive
adults
architecture
bank
Carthage
Carthage
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
classical myths: events, themes
classical myths: gods and heroes
countries and continents
crowd
Dido
groups
harbour
historical: imagined views
leaving
man
people
places
religion and belief
river
seascapes and coasts
ship - non-specific
society
townscape
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
tree
Trojan War
Tunisia
water: inland
woman
<p>This is one of four paintings exhibited by Turner at the Royal Academy in 1850. A visitor to Turner’s studio stated that the artist ‘went from one to the other, first painting upon one, touching on the next and so on, in rotation’. The artist finished the canvas while it was hanging in the exhibition. Conservators have tried to determine which areas Turner might have adjusted at the final moment. This question is made difficult by changes in surface appearance over time. Could the three areas of red paint highlighted in this illustration have been added on Varnishing Day?</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2020</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
23 July 2001 – 23 June 2002
2002-06-23
23 July 2001 – 23 June 2002
2002-06-23
2001-07-23
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-07-23
Italy and the Classical Tradition
Collection based display
5 August 2002 – 21 May 2007
2007-05-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-08-05
Turner at Tate Britain
Collection based display
1 December 2002 – 31 March 2003
2003-03-31
13 December 2002 – 17 March 2003
2003-03-17
2002-12-13
Musée des Beaux-Arts (Nancy, France)
2002-12-01
Turner and Claude Lorrain
Tate partnerships & programmes
9 June 2003 – 10 May 2004
2004-05-10
9 June 2003 – 8 September 2003
2003-09-08
2003-06-09
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (Williamstown, USA)
http://www.clarkart.edu/
24 October 2003 – 3 January 2004
2004-01-03
2003-10-24
Manchester Art Gallery (Manchester, UK)
http://www.manchestergalleries.org
15 February 2004 – 10 May 2004
2004-05-10
2004-02-15
Burrell Collection (Glasgow, UK)
2003-06-09
Turner: The Late Seascapes
Loan-out
14 August 2009 – 19 July 2010
2010-07-19
14 August 2009 – 19 July 2010
2010-07-19
2009-08-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-08-14
Exploring Technique
Collection based display
10 September 2014 – 20 September 2015
2015-09-20
10 September 2014 – 25 January 2015
2015-01-25
2014-09-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
24 February 2015 – 24 May 2015
2015-05-24
2015-02-24
J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, USA)
20 June 2015 – 20 September 2015
2015-09-20
2015-06-20
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum (San Francisco, USA)
http://www.famsf.org
2014-09-10
Late Turner: Painting Set Free
Exhibition
24 February 2015 – 31 January 2016
2016-01-31
24 February 2015 – 24 May 2015
2015-05-24
2015-02-24
J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, USA)
20 June 2015 – 20 September 2015
2015-09-20
2015-06-20
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum
31 October 2015 – 31 January 2016
2016-01-31
2015-10-31
Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada)
http://www.ago.net
2015-02-24
Late Turner
Loan-out
1 August 2016 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
1 August 2016 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
2016-08-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2016-08-01
Clore 104 Turner exhibited
Collection based display
16 October 2021 – 14 July 2023
2023-07-14
16 October 2021 – 6 March 2022
2022-03-06
2021-10-16
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum (Aarhus, Denmark)
2021-10-16
Turner Watercolours: Sun is God
Tate partnerships & programmes
The Departure of the Fleet
support: 899 × 1203 mm
frame: 1225 × 1530 × 143 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>This is one of four paintings exhibited by Turner at the Royal Academy in 1850. A visitor to Turner’s studio stated that the artist ‘went from one to the other, first painting upon one, touching on the next and so on, in rotation’. <br/>The artist finished the canvas while it was hanging in the exhibition. Conservators have tried to determine which areas Turner might have adjusted at the final moment. This question is made difficult by changes in surface appearance over time. Could the three areas of red paint highlighted in this illustration have been added on Varnishing Day?</p>
</div>

Display caption
2020-07-01T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>432. </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-the-departure-of-the-fleet-n00554" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00554</span></a>]<b> The Departure of the Fleet</b> Exh. 1850</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (554)</p>
<p>Canvas, 35 3/8 × 47 3/8 (89·5 × 120·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (31, ‘The departure of the Fleet’ 4'0" × 3'0"); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1905.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> R.A. 1850 (482); Arts Council tour 1952 (24).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Thornbury 1862, i, p. 349; 1877, p. 467; Hamerton 1879, pp. 297–8; Bell 1901, p. 160 no. 268; Armstrong 1902, p. 233; MacColl 1920, p. 26; Davies 1946, p. 186; Finberg 1961, pp. 427, 511 no. 589; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 73; Ziff 1964, pp. 24–7, pl. 3; Lindsay 1966<sup>2</sup>, p. 52; Gage 1969, pp. 98, 187, 244 n. 105; Reynolds 1969, pp. 204–5; Wilton 1979, p. 223.</p>
<p>Exhibited in 1850 with the lines:</p>
<p>‘The orient moon shone on the departing fleet,
<br/>Nemesis invoked, the priest held the poisoned cup. ’</p>
<p align="right">—<i>MS. Fallacies of Hope</i>.</p>
<p>Dido and her attendants, on the left, watch the departure of the fleet. For contemporary press criticisms of this picture see No. 429 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-mercury-sent-to-admonish-aeneas-n00553" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00553</span></a>].</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
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-16T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive adults architecture bank Carthage Carthage cities, towns, villages (non-UK) classical myths: events, themes classical myths: gods and heroes countries and continents crowd Dido groups harbour historical: imagined views leaving man people places religion and belief river seascapes and coasts ship - non-specific society townscape townscapes / man-made features transport: water tree Trojan War Tunisia water: inland woman