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>
Three Seascapes
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
sea
seascapes and coasts
wave
<p>One of a group of cursory marine sketches datable to the late 1820s, and perhaps painted while at East Cowes, or in the studio, from recollections of Turner's stay there. Although unlikely to have been painted outdoors, from nature, this canvas is included to show how Turner used his rolls of canvas, and how the Cowes sketches would have looked before they were separated. The canvas bears three sketches of sea and sky, one of which was painted upside down so that one sky serves for two subjects if the canvas is turned. It is exhibited with two seascapes the right way up.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
20 March 2009 – 10 August 2009
2009-08-10
20 March 2009
2009-03-20
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-03-20
Turner and Rothko Introduction
Collection based display
12 November 2011 – 1 May 2012
2012-05-01
12 November 2011 – 1 May 2012
2012-05-01
2011-11-12
Palazzo Ducale (Genoa, Italy)
http://www.palazzoducale.genova.it
2011-11-12
Van Gogh and Gauguin's Journey. Painting the experience of spaces from Turner to Rothko.
Loan-out
8 February 2013 – 13 April 2014
2014-04-13
8 February 2013 – 19 May 2013
2013-05-19
2013-02-08
Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au
4 June 2013 – 8 September 2013
2013-09-08
2013-06-04
National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia)
8 October 2013 – 18 December 2013
2013-12-18
2013-10-08
Toyko Metropolitan Art Museum (Toyko, Japan)
1 January 2014 – 13 April 2014
2014-04-13
2014-01-01
Kobe City Museum (Kobe, Japan)
2013-02-08
J.M.W. Turner: Makings of a Master
Loan-out
25 October 2014 – 19 April 2015
2015-04-19
25 October 2014 – 19 April 2015
2015-04-19
2014-10-25
Mu.Zee (Oostende, Belgium)
2014-10-25
The Sea
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)
15 October 2020 – 2 May 2021
2021-05-02
2020-10-15
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Québec, Canada)
http://www.mnba.qc.ca
2019-07-06
The Sea and the Alps: Turner's Quest for the Sublime
Tate partnerships & programmes
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
6 July 2024 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
6 July 2024 – 1 September 2024
2024-09-01
2024-07-06
Grimaldi Forum (Monaco, Monaco)
30 September 2024 – 7 May 2025
2025-05-07
2024-09-30
Museum of Art Pudong (Shanghai, China)
21 June 2025 – 5 October 2025
2025-10-05
2025-06-21
Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane, Australia)
1 June 2026 – 1 October 2026
2026-10-01
2026-06-01
External
15 November 2026 – 15 March 2027
2027-03-15
2026-11-15
External
1 May 2027 – 1 September 2027
2027-09-01
2027-05-01
External
15 October 2027 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
2027-10-15
External
2024-07-06
Turner's Sublime Legacy
Tate partnerships & programmes
Three Seascapes
support: 908 × 603 mm
frame: 1010 × 705 × 54 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>One of a group of cursory marine sketches datable to the late 1820s, and perhaps painted while at East Cowes, or in the studio, from recollections of Turner's stay there. Although unlikely to have been painted outdoors, from nature, this <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> is included to show how Turner used his rolls of canvas, and how the Cowes sketches would have looked before they were separated. The canvas bears three sketches of sea and sky, one of which was painted upside down so that one sky serves for two subjects if the canvas is turned. It is exhibited with two seascapes the right way up.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>271. </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-three-seascapes-n05491" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05491</span></a>]<b> Three Seascapes</b> <i>c.</i> 1827</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (5491)</p>
<p>Canvas, 35 3/4 × 23 3/4 (91 × 60·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (146, one of ‘2 (one of these contains 2 subjects)’ 3'0" × 2'0"; identified 1946, ? by chalk number on back); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1947.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> R.A. 1974–5 (320).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Davies 1946, pp. 159–60, 188.</p>
<p><b>Repr.</b> <i>Art International</i> XIX/2, February 1975, p. 13 in colour.</p>
<p>This <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> is not precisely datable but is fairly close to the <i>Study of Sea and Sky</i> of 1827 (No. 268 [<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>]). It serves to give some idea of how the two rolls of canvas used at Cowes must have looked before they were cut up. Here, however, Turner painted three seascapes, one of them to be seen with the canvas upside down so that two of the compositions share a single sky, and the smaller size of the canvas would have made it much more manageable.</p>
<p>There are considerable losses, now restored, at the bottom of the picture (as seen with two seascapes the right way up).</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
sea seascapes and coasts wave