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>
George IVs Departure Royal George 1822
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
adults
boat, barge
Edinburgh
figure
Firth of Forth
flag - non-specific
history
Leith
objects
people
places
politics and society
religious and ceremonial
royalty: George IV, visit to Edinburgh, Aug 1822
Scotland
sea
seascapes and coasts
ship, sailing, ‘Royal George’
society
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
UK natural features
wave
<p>In 1822 George IV visited Edinburgh, making him the first British monarch to visit Scotland in almost 200 years. Turner was one of several artists present to record the visit. He filled sketchbooks with drawings with the intention of making a series of large paintings depicting episodes from the visit. The project was abandoned, however, with only four unfinished paintings having been started. Turner’s ‘Royal Progress’ therefore became another unsuccessful attempt at royal patronage.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2022</em></p>
painting oil paint mahogany
5 March 2001 – 23 June 2002
2002-06-23
5 March 2001 – 23 June 2002
2002-06-23
2001-03-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-03-05
Painting Landscape and History [TB CL2002]
Collection based display
20 March 2009 – 27 July 2009
2009-07-27
20 March 2009
2009-03-20
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-03-20
Turner's Later Oil Sketches and Unfinished Works
Collection based display
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
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
24 February 2023 – 14 January 2024
2024-01-14
24 February 2023 – 14 January 2024
2024-01-14
2023-02-24
The Queen’s House (London, UK)
2023-02-24
The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, Art and the Sea
Loan-out
George IV’s Departure from the ‘Royal George’, 1822
support: 752 × 921 mm
frame: 980 × 1145 × 95 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>In 1822 George IV visited Edinburgh, making him the first British monarch to visit Scotland in almost 200 years. Turner was one of several artists present to record the visit. He filled sketchbooks with drawings with the intention of making a series of large paintings depicting episodes from the visit. The project was abandoned, however, with only four unfinished paintings having been started. Turner’s ‘Royal Progress’ therefore became another unsuccessful attempt at royal patronage.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2022-11-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<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>248b. </b>[<span>N02880</span>] <b>George IV's Departure from the ‘Royal George’</b> <i>c.</i> 1822</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (2880)</p>
<p>Mahogany, 29 5/8 × 36 3/16 (75 × 92)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (151, one of ‘3 each (panel)’ 3'0" × 2'6"; identified by chalk number on back); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1919.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> On loan to the Ulster Museum 1964–9; Tate Gallery and Edinburgh 1981–2.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> MacColl 1920, p. 42; Gage 1980, p. 90; Finley 1981, pp. 32–3, 43, 49, pl. 15.</p>
<p>The subject, as has been suggested by Gerald Finley, seems to show George IV setting out from the <i>Royal George</i> on the Royal Barge on 15 August 1822 before landing at Leith, the subject of No. ‘2’ of the series of small composition sketches. The composition also seems to be based on a drawing in the ‘King at Edinburgh’ sketchbook (CCI-1), with the bulk of the <i>Royal George</i> seen end on on the right. It was presumably for this painting that Turner needed J.C. Schetky's sketch of the Royal Barge. MacColl had related this oil to a <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> sketch in the Turner Bequest (CCLXIII-384, repr. exh. cat., R.A. 1974–5, p. 97 no. 255) but it is not particularly close.</p>
<p>In the first edition of this catalogue this painting appeared as No. 278, ‘Shipping with a Flag’, and was dated ‘<i>c.</i>
1825–30?’.</p>
<p>There are small losses to the panel lower left  1/4 × 5 (0·75 × 12·5), and lower right  1/8 ×  3/4 (0·25 × 2).</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/>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults boat, barge Edinburgh figure Firth of Forth flag - non-specific history Leith objects people places politics and society religious and ceremonial royalty: George IV, visit to Edinburgh, Aug 1822 Scotland sea seascapes and coasts ship, sailing, ‘Royal George’ society transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions UK natural features wave