Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on loan
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>
Steamer and Lightship a Fighting Temeraire
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
architecture
boat, steam
lighthouse
public and municipal
sea
seascapes and coasts
society
transport: water
<p>This sketch has been recently cleaned and restored. It was described by Turner on the back as a ‘first sketch’ for <span>The Fighting Temeraire</span>. There are significant differences. The steamer passes the Nore lightship, much further down the Thames. If present at all, the Temeraire is a faint ghost. Verse, also scribbled by Turner, makes a closer connection. Although only partly legible it describes light ‘blushing red at her disgrace’. This describes the sale of the <span>Temeraire </span>to recoup the value of her timber.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2022</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
22 March 2018 – 17 June 2018
2018-06-17
22 March 2018 – 17 June 2018
2018-06-17
2018-03-22
Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust (Chatham, UK)
2018-03-22
400th Anniversary of Historic Dockyard Chatham
Loan-out
6 July 2019 – 2 May 2021
2021-05-02
6 July 2019 – 13 October 2019
2019-10-13
2019-07-06
Kunstmuseum (Luzern, Switzerland)
http://www.kunstmuseumluzern.ch
8 November 2019 – 26 January 2020
2020-01-26
2019-11-08
LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Westfälisches (Munster, Germany)
http://landesmuseum.lwl.org
20 February 2020 – 7 September 2020
2020-09-07
2020-02-20
Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, USA)
2019-07-06
The Sea and the Alps: Turner's Quest for the Sublime
Tate partnerships & programmes
28 October 2020 – 10 July 2022
2022-07-10
28 October 2020 – 12 September 2021
2021-09-12
2020-10-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
17 October 2021 – 6 February 2022
2022-02-06
2021-10-17
Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, USA)
http://www.kimbellart.org
27 March 2022 – 10 July 2022
2022-07-10
2022-03-27
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, USA)
http://www.mfa.org
2020-10-28
Turner's Modern World
Exhibition
17 October 2021 – 10 July 2022
2022-07-10
17 October 2021 – 6 February 2022
2022-02-06
2021-10-17
Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, USA)
http://www.kimbellart.org
27 March 2022 – 10 July 2022
2022-07-10
2022-03-27
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, USA)
http://www.mfa.org
2021-10-17
Turner's Modern World
Loan-out
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
2023-10-28
Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany)
2023-10-28
Turner at Lenbachhaus Munich
Loan-out
10 May 2024 – 8 September 2024
2024-09-08
10 May 2024 – 8 September 2024
2024-09-08
2024-05-10
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
2024-05-10
The Fighting Temeraire: Art, Industry and Nostalgia
Loan-out
2 July 2025 – 3 November 2025
2025-11-03
2 July 2025 – 3 November 2025
2025-11-03
2025-07-02
Preston Park Museum and Grounds (Stockton-on-Tees, UK)
2025-07-02
The Birth of the Modern Railway & Beyond
Loan-out
Steamer and Lightship; a study for ‘The Fighting Temeraire’
support: 914 × 1197 mm
frame: 1227 × 1531 × 155 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
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<p>This sketch has been recently cleaned and restored. It was described by Turner on the back as a ‘first sketch’ for <i>The Fighting Temeraire</i>. There are significant differences. The steamer passes the Nore lightship, much further down the Thames. If present at all, the Temeraire is a faint ghost. Verse, also scribbled by Turner, makes a closer connection. Although only partly legible it describes light ‘blushing red at her disgrace’. This describes the sale of the <i>Temeraire </i>to recoup the value of her timber.</p>
</div>

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2022-11-03T00:00:00
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<p><b>279. </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-steamer-and-lightship-a-study-for-the-fighting-temeraire-n05478" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05478</span></a>]<b> Steamer and Lightship</b> <i>c.</i> 1825–30</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (5478)</p>
<p>Canvas, 36 × 47 7/8 (91·5 × 121·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (115, one of 36 each 4'0" × 3'0"; identified 1946 by chalk number on back); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1947.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Davies 1946, pp. 158, 188 n. 14.</p>
<p>Written on the back of the <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> in <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/chalk" title="Glossary definition for 'Chalk'"><span>chalk</span></a>, in Turner's roughest hand, are six or seven lines of verse plus, the other way up, three more, the first written on the wooden stretcher. It must be presumed that Turner turned to this picture, face against the wall, as the first surface ready to hand to draft verses just as he normally did in his notebooks. The verses presumably do not relate to this picture, which Turner may well have regarded as abandoned before using it in this fashion; for a near parallel one may cite the use of the back of <i>Jacob's Ladder</i> as a palette (see No. 435 [<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-vision-of-jacobs-ladder-n05507" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05507</span></a>]). Even using infra-red <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photography</span></a> it has only been possible to pick out isolated phrases and words. From the larger inscription one can possibly make out:</p>
<p>That Light which [5 words] to Glory
<br/>Now blushes Red at his disgrace
<br/>Now witness his disgrace and [3 or more words]
<br/>been</p>
<p>She might have spared with the corded oak [2 words]</p>
<p>Thou art [1 word] tho thy [2 words] yet [1 word] the Earth
<br/>[1 word] when you [1 word, then space, then 4 words] brightens the Eve</p>
<p>The shorter inscription is virtually illegible. (The compiler is indebted to Dr John Gage for assistance in identifying the hand and many of the words of these verses.)</p>
<p>The inventory number ‘115’ can also be seen in the reproduction of the back of the <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>.</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
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
architecture boat, steam lighthouse public and municipal sea seascapes and coasts society transport: water