Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Robert Vernon
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>
Prince Orange William III Embarked Holland and Landed at Torbay November 4th 1688 after a Stormy Passage
Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
boat, rowing
history
politics and society
revolution: Glorious Revolution, 1688-9
royalty: William of Orange, landing at Torbay, 4 Nov 1688
sea
seascapes and coasts
ship, sailing
society
storm
transport: water
wave
weather
<p>The 1832 Royal Academy exhibition coincided with the Great Reform Bill’s final passage through Parliament. This picture appears to be a straightforward historical genre painting. However, given the agitation for greater democracy at this time, this was a pertinent reminder of efforts in the past to reform the constitution. In that light, the ‘stormy passage’ in its title refers not simply to William’s crossing from Holland, but also to the recent legislative fight to extend voting rights.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2022</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
9 October 2003 – 30 May 2004
2004-05-30
9 October 2003 – 30 May 2004
2004-05-30
2003-10-09
Allen Memorial Art Museum (Ohio, USA)
2003-10-09
Reciprocal Loan: Turner and Venice
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
5 September 2015 – 3 January 2016
2016-01-03
5 September 2015 – 3 January 2016
2016-01-03
2015-09-05
Museum de Fundatie (Zwolle, Netherlands)
5 September 2015 – 3 January 2016
2016-01-03
2015-09-05
Rijksmuseum Twenthe (Enschede, Netherlands)
2015-09-05
Danger and Beauty - William Turner and the Tradition of the Sublime
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
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
The Prince of Orange, William III, Embarked from Holland, and Landed at Torbay, November 4th, 1688, after a Stormy Passage
support: 902 × 1200 mm
frame: 1200 × 1510 × 133 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999978" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Robert Vernon</a> 1847
<div class="text">
<p>The 1832 Royal Academy exhibition coincided with the Great Reform Bill’s final passage through Parliament. This picture appears to be a straightforward historical genre painting. However, given the agitation for greater democracy at this time, this was a pertinent reminder of efforts in the past to reform the constitution. In that light, the ‘stormy passage’ in its title refers not simply to William’s crossing from Holland, but also to the recent legislative fight to extend voting rights.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2022-11-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>343. </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-the-prince-of-orange-william-iii-embarked-from-holland-and-landed-at-torbay-n00369" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00369</span></a>] <b>The Prince of Orange, William III, embarked from Holland, and landed at Torbay, November 4th, 1688, after a Stormy Passage</b>
Exh. 1832</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (369)</p>
<p>Canvas, 35 1/2 × 47 1/4 (90·5 × 120)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Robert Vernon, presumably purchased at the R.A. 1832; given to the National Gallery 1847; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1912.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> R.A. 1832 (153); Australian tour 1960 (10); <i>Marine Painting</i> City Art Gallery, Plymouth, August 1969 (27); on loan to National Maritime Museum 1975–80.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Hall 1851<sup>2</sup>, p. 10 no. 78; ‘The Vernon Gallery: The Prince of Orange landing at Torbay’, <i>Art Journal</i> 1852, p. 226, engr. W. Miller; Hall iii 1853, no. 8, engr.; Waagen 1854, i, p. 385; Thornbury 1862, i, p. 321; Wornum 1875, pp. 77–8, engr.; Thornbury 1877, p. 448; Bell 1901, pp. 118–19 no. 178; Armstrong 1902, p. 226; MacColl 1920, p. 1; Finberg 1961, pp. 335, 493 no. 378; Lindsay 1966, pp. 141–2; Lindsay 1966<sup>2</sup>, pp. 61–2; Wilton 1979, pp. 218–19.</p>
<p>Exhibited in 1832 with a reference to ‘-“<i>History of England</i>”’ and the text</p>
<p>‘The yacht in which his Majesty sailed was, after many changes and services, finally wrecked on Hamburgh sands, while employed in the Hull trade.’</p>
<p>According to Wornum she was in fact wrecked on the Black Middens, near Tynemouth Castle. The landing in fact took place on the morning of 5 November. William sailed from Helvoetsluys, the subject of another picture exhibited by Turner in the same year (No. 345). Andrew Wilton, countering the stress on Turner's late pessimism made by many critics recently, sees this as an optimistic picture, with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 paralleling the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. William III's landing at Torbay after enduring the storm demonstrates man's victory over nature.</p>
<p>As compared to <i>Childe Harold's Pilgrimage</i> (No. 342 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-childe-harolds-pilgrimage-italy-n00516" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00516</span></a>]) this picture struck critics as of ‘a soberer <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/tone" title="Glossary definition for 'Tone'"><span>tone</span></a>’ (<i>Morning Chronicle</i>, 7 May 1832) and as showing a ‘strict adherence to nature’ (<i>Literary Gazette</i>, 12 May). According to the <i>Athenaeum</i> for 26 May, however, ‘The painter has made this picture somewhat poetical: he has squandered the finest hues and the finest <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/perspective" title="Glossary definition for 'Perspective'"><span>perspective</span></a> upon a subject which has lost somewhat of its feverish interest in the hearts of Englishmen.’</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
2004-09-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
boat, rowing history politics and society revolution: Glorious Revolution, 1688-9 royalty: William of Orange, landing at Torbay, 4 Nov 1688 sea seascapes and coasts ship, sailing society storm transport: water wave weather