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>
Second Battle Trafalgar
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
adults
battle
diseases and conditions
drowned
group
groups
history
man
military
military
Napoleonic Wars, 1796-1815
natural phenomena
people
sailor
ship, warship
ship, warship, ‘HMS Victory’
shipwreck
smoke
society
Trafalgar, Battle, 21 October 1805
transport: water
work and occupations
<p>In 1823, George IV commissioned Turner to paint the Battle of Trafalgar to hang in St. James’s Palace with de Loutherbourg’s naval battle <span>The Glorious First of June</span>. The two pictures were to flank a portrait of George III. This is one of two sketches Turner made for this monumental picture. While intensely dramatic, it is a more conventional, distanced view than his earlier picture of Trafalgar. It was criticised in naval circles and the king gave Turner’s and de Loutherbourg’s paintings to Greenwich Hospital in 1829. This was Turner’s only royal commission.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2022</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
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
1 February 2006 – 30 March 2006
2006-03-30
1 February 2006 – 30 March 2006
2006-03-30
2006-02-01
Szépmüvészeti Múzeum (Budapest, Hungary)
http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/
2006-02-01
Centenary
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
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
8 June 2019 – 1 September 2019
2019-09-01
8 June 2019 – 1 September 2019
2019-09-01
2019-06-08
St Barbe Museum (Lymington, UK)
http://www.stbarbe-museum.org.uk/
2019-06-08
Blockade: Admiral Cornwallis and the events leading up to Trafalgar
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
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
Second Sketch for ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’
support: 902 × 1213 mm
frame: 1228 × 1536 × 138 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 1823, George IV commissioned Turner to paint the Battle of Trafalgar to hang in St. James’s Palace with de Loutherbourg’s naval battle <i>The Glorious First of June</i>. The two pictures were to flank a portrait of George III. This is one of two sketches Turner made for this monumental picture. While intensely dramatic, it is a more conventional, distanced view than his earlier picture of Trafalgar. It was criticised in naval circles and the king gave Turner’s and de Loutherbourg’s paintings to Greenwich Hospital in 1829. This was Turner’s only royal commission.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2022-11-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>251. </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-second-sketch-for-the-battle-of-trafalgar-n00556" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00556</span></a>]<b> Second Sketch for ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’</b> c. 1822–3</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (556)</p>
<p>Canvas, 35 1/2 × 47 3/4 (90 × 121)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (15, ‘Battle of Trafalgar’ 4'0" × 3' 0"); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1931.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> Australian tour 1960 (6); on loan to the National Maritime Museum 1975–84.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Thornbury 1862, i, p. 349; 1877, p. 467; Armstrong 1902, p. 233; Davies 1946, p. 185.</p>
<p>The second oil sketch for the large picture begun in 1823 for George IV, No. 252. For differences between this and the first sketch see No. 250.[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-first-sketch-for-the-battle-of-trafalgar-n05480" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05480</span></a>] In the final picture the group of figures in the foreground is changed, though the general massing is the same. The <i>Victory</i> is twisted very slightly to emphasise the fact that it is approaching the spectator and the sails, particularly in the centre, are again altered. The other ships are also different, and in particular that on the right, seen stern on in both sketches, is now shown at an angle.</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
adults battle diseases and conditions drowned group groups history man military military Napoleonic Wars, 1796-1815 natural phenomena people sailor ship, warship ship, warship, ‘HMS Victory’ shipwreck smoke society Trafalgar, Battle, 21 October 1805 transport: water work and occupations