Oil paint on canvas
Hampshire
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
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>
Spithead Two Captured Danish Ships Entering Portsmouth Harbour
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
boat, rowing
cloud
England
England, South East
England, Southern
flag, Denmark
Hampshire
history
military
Napoleonic Wars, 1796-1815
objects
places
Portsmouth
religious and ceremonial
sail
sea
seascapes and coasts
ship, warship
society
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
wave
weather
<p>French leader Napoleon’s war tactics included blockades preventing British trade. Fearing he would force neutral Denmark to block Britain’s access to Baltic sea trade, in 1807, the British navy captured Denmark’s fleet. Turner painted this after watching captured Danish ships arrive off Spithead, a strait of the English Channel. Britain’s attack proved dangerously provocative and a backlash ensued. Turner changed this painting’s title to disguise its connection with the episode. It became <span>Boat’s Crew Recovering an Anchor.</span> Those who looked closely, however, would have seen the Danish flag flying beneath the British one on the ship on the right.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2023</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
25 April 2001 – 29 July 2001
2001-07-29
25 April 2001 – 30 July 2001
2001-07-30
2001-04-25
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-04-25
House and Studio
Collection based display
26 July 2004 – 27 June 2005
2005-06-27
26 July 2004 – 27 June 2005
2005-06-27
2004-07-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2004-07-26
Art and National Identity
Collection based display
1 October 2007 – 21 September 2008
2008-09-21
1 October 2007 – 6 January 2008
2008-01-06
2007-10-01
National Gallery of Art (Washington DC, USA)
10 February 2008 – 18 May 2008
2008-05-18
2008-02-10
Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, USA)
http://www.DallasMuseumofArt.org
23 June 2008 – 21 September 2008
2008-09-21
2008-06-23
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA)
http://www.metmuseum.org
2007-10-01
JMW Turner
Tate partnerships & programmes
19 August 2009 – 19 July 2010
2010-07-19
19 August 2009 – 19 July 2010
2010-07-19
2009-08-19
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-08-19
War and Peace
Collection based display
4 August 2010 – 9 April 2012
2012-04-09
4 August 2010 – 9 April 2012
2012-04-09
2010-08-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-08-04
Early Turner
Collection based display
21 April 2012 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
21 April 2012 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
2012-04-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-04-21
Turner Exhibited
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
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
13 March 2023
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-03-13
Gallery 106
Collection based display
Spithead: Two Captured Danish Ships Entering Portsmouth Harbour
support: 1714 × 2337 mm
frame: 2105 × 2745 × 183 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>French leader Napoleon’s war tactics included blockades preventing British trade. Fearing he would force neutral Denmark to block Britain’s access to Baltic sea trade, in 1807, the British navy captured Denmark’s fleet. Turner painted this after watching captured Danish ships arrive off Spithead, a strait of the English Channel. Britain’s attack proved dangerously provocative and a backlash ensued. Turner changed this painting’s title to disguise its connection with the episode. It became <i>Boat’s Crew Recovering an Anchor.</i> Those who looked closely, however, would have seen the Danish flag flying beneath the British one on the ship on the right.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2023-10-25T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>80. </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-spithead-two-captured-danish-ships-entering-portsmouth-harbour-n00481" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00481</span></a>]<b> Spithead: Boat's Crew recovering an Anchor</b> Exh. 1808
<br/>
<br/>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (481)
<br/>Canvas, 67 3/4 × 92 1/4 (171·5 × 235)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (62, ‘Boat's Crew running an anchor’ 7'7" × 5'9"—see below); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1949.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> Turner's gallery 1808; R.A. 1809 (22); Turner's gallery 1810 (16); Tate Gallery 1931 (26, repr.).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Thornbury 1862, i, pp. 292–3; 1877, p. 429; Bell 1901, pp. 86–7 no. 113; Armstrong 1902, pp. 56, 231, repr. facing p. 66; Finberg 1910, pp. 53–4, 60; Whitley 1928, pp. 144, 146; Davies 1946, pp. 148, 187; H.F. Finberg 1951, pp. 384, 386; Finberg 1961, pp. 138, 147–8, 158–9, 171, 469 no. 125, 471 no. 146, 513 no. 157l; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 30, pl. 39; Lindsay 1966, p. 101; Gaunt 1971, p. 9.</p>
<p></p>
<p>In the 1854 Schedule of the Turner Bequest the size was first left blank and subsequently entered in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/graphite" title="Glossary definition for 'Graphite'"><span>pencil</span></a>. In the 1856 Schedule ‘running’ was replaced on the manuscript by Wornum by ‘recovering’.
<br/>
<br/>Described, almost certainly by John Landseer, in the <i>Review of Publications of Art</i> 1808 as ‘a larger picture [than that of ‘Runic superstitions’, No. 79 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-a-subject-from-the-runic-superstitions-n00464" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00464</span></a>]] of two of the DANISH SHIPS which were seized at COPENHAGEN, entering Portsmouth Harbour, where Mr. Turner again displays with his powers as a painter, his great and various knowledge, and talent for marine <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>’. The Danish fleet had surrendered on 7 September 1807 and on 14 October the first detachment set sail for England with an English escort. Turner went especially to Portsmouth to witness the arrival of the squadron, but unfortunately it was dispersed by bad weather, some ships arriving on 30 October, others on 1 November. Turner shows the two ships that arrived on the latter date, the <i>Three Crowns</i> and the <i>Denmark</i>. There are a number of on-the-spot <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> in the ‘Spithead’ sketchbook (C-1 to 18, 27 to 30).
<br/>
<br/>By 1809, when the picture was exhibited at the R.A., there was such a political outcry against the Danish operation that Turner seems to have thought it expedient to change the title of the picture to ‘Spithead: Boat's crew recovering an anchor’. Nobody seems to have noticed the original subject, or the Danish flags flown below the English as a sign of submission, and indeed Robert Hunt, writing in the <i>Examiner</i>, referred to the ships as being English (Finberg 1961, p. 159, gives the date of the review as June 1809, but it cannot now be traced). In 1810 the picture was exhibited once again at Turner's gallery as ‘Spithead’. On this last occasion it aroused no critical interest in the press, but in 1809 it was generally praised by ‘Anthony Pasquin’ (John Williams): ‘This is one of the most perfect performances in the Exhibition, and in every point of view worthy of the Artist who traced it ... Mr. Turner appears to have taken Backhysen as his model; at any rate, his manner, if not imitative of that great naval painter, possesses a similar direction both in composition and colouring. When Mr. Turner first became noticeable for his talents, he seemed more desirous of surprising us, by his bold eccentricities, than of pleasing us by the chastity of his arrangements ... but he now seems disposed to reform those excesses and flights of imagination, and fall back, like a true soldier, into the ranks of reason. We cannot dismiss this subject without observing that the transparency of the water, in this view, is beautifully managed; and Mr. Turner may become, if he pleases, the first marine painter in the world; he has more correctness, though less brilliancy, than Vernet, and appears to regard nature with an eye so keenly inquisitorial, that his representations must be valuable, provided that his fancy is not permitted to neutralize the effort’ (<i>Morning Herald</i>, 4 May 1809). On the other hand Farington, dining with Mr Augustus Phipps on 30 April 1809 recorded Mrs Phipps' opinion: ‘The water in His [Turner's] large sea piece she thought not like water, not liquid, and in all His pictures there is a want of finishing.’
<br/>
<br/>This picture was priced at £400 in a note, probably of <i>c.</i> 1810, in Turner's ‘Finance’ sketchbook (CXXII-36; for the date see Nos. 53 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-narcissus-and-echo-t03869" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T03869</span></a>] and 56 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-destruction-of-sodom-n00474" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00474</span></a>]).
<br/>
<br/>There is a short crease running in from the left-hand edge near the top of the canvas, caused by an old relining.</p>
<p>
<br/><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
2004-09-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
boat, rowing cloud England England, South East England, Southern flag, Denmark Hampshire history military Napoleonic Wars, 1796-1815 objects places Portsmouth religious and ceremonial sail sea seascapes and coasts ship, warship society transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions wave weather