Oil paint on mahogany
Edinburgh
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>
Shipping
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
boat, rowing
Edinburgh
Firth of Forth
flag - non-specific
history
Leith
objects
places
politics and society
religious and ceremonial
royalty: George IV, visit to Edinburgh, Aug 1822
Scotland
sea
seascapes and coasts
ship, sailing
society
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
UK natural features
wave
painting oil paint mahogany
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)
18 May 2022 – 11 September 2022
2022-09-11
2022-05-18
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain)
http://www.mnac.es
8 October 2022 – 5 February 2023
2023-02-05
2022-10-08
National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin, Ireland)
http://www.nationalgallery.ie
3 March 2023 – 25 June 2023
2023-06-25
2023-03-03
Fondation Pierre Gianadda (Martigny, Switzerland)
2021-10-16
Turner Watercolours: Sun is God
Tate partnerships & programmes
Shipping
support: 679 × 918 mm
frame: 975 × 1200 × 110 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
<p>[from]<b> Nos. 247–8b : George IV's Visit to Edinburgh, 1822 </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-george-iv-at-st-giless-edinburgh-n02857" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02857</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-george-iv-at-the-provosts-banquet-in-the-parliament-house-edinburgh-n02858" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02858</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-shipping-n02879" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02879</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-george-ivs-departure-from-the-royal-george-1822-n02880" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02880</span></a>]</p>
<p>IN August 1822, the year after his coronation, George IV paid a two-week state visit to Edinburgh, the first by a British monarch since the Act of Union of 1707. The Royal Squadron arrived at Leith on 14 August and George IV landed the following day, staying at the Palace of Holyrood until 29 August. The visit was staged by Sir Walter Scott. A number of artists attended the occasion, including Turner, who seems to have been in Edinburgh as early as 7 August (he was definitely there by 14 August) and was presumably there until the end of the royal visit.</p>
<p>Gerald Finley has suggested that Turner planned a series of <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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> covering this visit, to be <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraved</span></a> and probably in the hope of royal patronage.</p>
<p>Turner used two sketchbooks in Edinburgh, the ‘King's Visit to Scotland’ sketchbook (CC) and the ‘King at Edinburgh’ sketchbook (CCI), the latter containing a double-spread of nineteen rough <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/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> sketches (p. 44 <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> and inside back cover; both sketchbooks are repr. in full in Finley 1981); four of these can be linked with paintings in the Turner Bequest, two long identified with this visit (Nos. 247 [<span>N02857</span>] and 248 [<span>N02858</span>]), the other two only recently identified by Finley, a discovery reflected in the exhibition and accompanying book of <i>Turner and George the Fourth in Edinburgh, 1822</i>, 1981–2.</p>
<p>All four paintings are on <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/panel" title="Glossary definition for 'Panel'"><span>panel</span></a>, relatively unusual for Turner, two being approximately 2 1/2 inches higher than the others. It is uncertain how many pictures Turner would have completed had the scheme been fulfilled. It is also uncertain why the scheme was abandoned but the reason is hinted at in a letter of 3 December 1823 to J.C. Schetky. From this it appears that Schetky had offered Turner the use of one of his <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 the Royal Barge, only roughly sketched by Turner during his visit, but, so Turner writes, ‘there is an end to that commission owing to the difficulty attending engraving the subjects’ (Gage <i>loc. cit.</i>). Turner had presumably abandoned work on the paintings by this time.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Finley 1975, pp. 27–35; Gage 1980, p. 90; Finley 1981.</p>
<p><b>248a. </b>[<span>N02879</span>] <b>Sir Walter Scott going out to meet George IV</b>
<i>c.</i> 1822</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (2879)</p>
<p>Mahogany, 26 3/4 × 36 1/8 (68 × 91·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (152, one of ‘3 each (ditto [panel])’ 3'0" × 2'3"; identified by chalk number on back); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1919.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> Tate Gallery and Edinburgh 1981–2.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Finley 1981, pp. 32, 38–43, pl. 14.</p>
<p>The subject has been identified by Gerald Finley. Sir Walter Scott went out to the <i>Royal George</i> at Leith on</p>
<p>14 August to greet George IV and present him with a silver St Andrew's cross. The composition is based on ‘No. 1’ of the nineteen composition sketches; this was also developed in 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/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> (CLXVIII-B; repr. Finley <i>op. cit.</i>, pl. 12) used for the vignette on the title-page of volume 2 of Sir Walter Scott's <i>Provincial Antiquities and <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/picturesque" title="Glossary definition for 'Picturesque'"><span>Picturesque</span></a> Scenery of Scotland</i>, 1826. The oil seems to be based on the drawing in the ‘King's Visit to Edinburgh’ sketchbook (CC-62).</p>
<p>In the first edition of this catalogue this painting appeared as No. 277, ‘Shipping’, and was dated ‘<i>c.</i>
1825–30?’.</p>
<p>Severely overcleaned in the past in all areas except the top corners. In particular the sails of the ship in the middle distance on the right have practically disappeared.</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
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
boat, rowing Edinburgh Firth of Forth flag - non-specific history Leith objects places politics and society religious and ceremonial royalty: George IV, visit to Edinburgh, Aug 1822 Scotland sea seascapes and coasts ship, sailing society transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions UK natural features wave