Oil paint on canvas
Isle of Wight
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>
Shipping off East Cowes Headland
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
adults
boat, rowing
boat, yacht
coast
East Cowes - non-specific
England
England, South East
England, Southern
figure
hill
Isle of Wight
landscape
mist
people
places
river
River Medina
sea
seascapes and coasts
ship, sailing
ship, warship
society
sunrise
sunshine
times of the day
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
UK natural features
water: inland
weather
painting oil paint canvas
4 September 2004 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
4 September 2004 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
2004-09-04
Statens Museum for Kunst (Copenhagen, Denmark)
2004-09-04
Turner and Constable and their European Contemporaries
Loan-out
10 April 2006 – 12 March 2007
2007-03-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2006-04-10
Impressions and Ideas Turner's Oil Sketches and Studies
Collection based display
6 October 2007 – 13 January 2008
2008-01-13
6 October 2007 – 13 January 2008
2008-01-13
2007-10-06
Museum voor Schone Kunsten (Ghent, Belgium)
http://www.gent.be/
2007-10-06
British Vision, Observation and Imagination in British Art, 1750 -1950
Loan-out
23 March 2009 – 3 August 2009
2009-08-03
20 March 2009 – 3 August 2009
2009-08-03
2009-03-20
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-03-23
Limitless Horizons: Turner's Later Seascapes
Collection based display
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 May 2015 – 27 September 2015
2015-09-27
22 May 2015 – 27 September 2015
2015-09-27
2015-05-22
The Salisbury Museum (Salisbury, UK)
http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk
2015-05-22
Turner and Wessex
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
Shipping off East Cowes Headland
support: 460 × 603 mm
frame: 726 × 871 × 100 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. 260–8: Cowes Sketches, 1827 </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-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-starting-for-their-moorings-no-1-n01998" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01998</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-study-of-sea-and-sky-isle-of-wight-n02001" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02001</span></a>]</p>
<p>TURNER revisited the Isle of Wight in late July and August 1827, staying with the architect John Nash at East Cowes Castle. In an undated letter he asked his father to send one or if possible two pieces of unstretched <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>, either a piece measuring 6 ft by 4 ft or a ‘whole length’, and it was on a 6 ft by 4 ft canvas, cut into two, that he painted these nine sketches. The 1854 Schedule of the Turner Bequest listed, under nos. 203 to 206, 207 to 210, 211 to 214, and 215 to 218, four ‘Roll[s] containing 4 subjects’. Despite the fact that one of the Cowes canvases contained five sketches the two rolls were probably among these four. They were rediscovered at the National Gallery in 1905 and divided into separate pieces. One roll contained Nos. 260 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-beating-to-windward-no-1-n01995" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01995</span></a>], 262 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-beating-to-windward-no-3-n01993" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01993</span></a>], 264 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-starting-for-their-moorings-no-2-n02000" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02000</span></a>], 266 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-between-decks-n01996" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01996</span></a>] and 268 [<span>N02001</span>] and the other Nos. 261 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-beating-to-windward-no-2-n01994" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01994</span></a>], 263 [<span>N01998</span>], 265 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-east-cowes-castle-the-regatta-starting-for-their-moorings-no-3-n01997" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01997</span></a>] and 267 [<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-off-east-cowes-headland-n01999" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01999</span></a>].</p>
<p>No record was made of the placing of the sketches on the two rolls on canvas, but to a certain extent this can be reconstructed. On the first roll the two largest sketches, Nos. 264 [<span>N02000</span>] and 262 [<span>N01993</span>], were one above the other, flanked on the left by Nos. 266 [<span>N01996</span>], 260 [<span>N01995</span>] (both upside down) and 268 [<span>N02001</span>]. On the other Nos. 267 [<span>N01999</span>] and 263 [<span>N01998</span>] were at the top, Nos. 265 [<span>N01997</span>] and 261 [<span>N01994</span>] below; No. 261 [<span>N01994</span>] was definitely to the right of No. 265 [<span>N01997</span>], and No. 267 [<span>N01999</span>] seems to have been above No. 265 [<span>N01997</span>].</p>
<p>It has been suggested by Graham Reynolds that at least some of these sketches were painted on the spot, though the practical difficulties, especially when the artist was out at sea, would have been considerable. As Evelyn Joll has suggested, a clue as to where Turner may have done the sketches is given by the sketch <i>Between Decks</i> (No. 266 [<span>N01996</span>]). This appears to have been painted a board a man-of-war and there seems no reason why Turner could not have painted the sketches of yachts racing from a ship anchored of Cowes Roads. If so, Turner's vantage point would seem to have been on a ship rather further offshore than the guardship that can be seen in Nos. 242, 261 [<span>N01994</span>] and 262 [<span>N01993</span>]. It is interesting that the three sketches for <i>The Regatta beating to Windward</i> would seem to have been painted alternately on each roll, No. 260 [<span>N01995</span>] on the first, No. 261 [<span>N01994</span>] on the second, and No. 262 [<span>N01993</span>] again on the first; this could have been to allow an assistant time to adjust the roll for a new sketch.</p>
<p>The ‘Windsor and Cowes’ sketchbook (CCXXVI) contains <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 boats racing, boats at anchor, views of the coast and figure studies, though none directly related to the oil sketches, which to a certain extent supports the suggestion that they were done on the spot. It also contains a list of the boats with their names, the names of their owners, and their colours, showing just how detailed was Turner's interest in the Regatta (CCXXVI-80 <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>).</p>
<p>The two groups of sketches of the Regatta were used for the pictures commissioned by John Nash and exhibited the following year (see Nos. 242 and 243). The other three, including <i>Between Decks</i>, were not used for more finished pictures.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> MacColl 1920, pp. 31–3; Reynolds 1969<sup>2</sup>, pp. 67–72.</p>
<p><b>267. </b>[<span>N01999</span>]<b> Shipping off East Cowes Headland</b> 1827</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (1999)</p>
<p>Canvas, irregular, approx. 18 1/8 × 23 3/4 (46 × 60)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (? one of 203–18; see p. 159); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1919.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> Venice 1938 (8); Amsterdam, Berne, Paris, Brussels, Liege (28), Venice and Rome (30) 1947–8; R.A. 1974–5 (317, repr. in colour p. 54).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 39, colour pl. ix; Reynolds 1969<sup>2</sup>, p. 72.</p>
<p>One of the four sketches on the second roll of canvas used at Cowes. East Cowes headland is seen in the background.</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</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults boat, rowing boat, yacht coast East Cowes - non-specific England England, South East England, Southern figure hill Isle of Wight landscape mist people places river River Medina sea seascapes and coasts ship, sailing ship, warship society sunrise sunshine times of the day transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions UK natural features water: inland weather