Oil paint on canvas
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>
Fishing Boats Bringing a Disabled Ship into Port Ruysdael
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
boat, fishing
harbour
sea
seascapes and coasts
ship - non-specific
society
storm
transport: water
wave
weather
<p>By the time Turner painted this work, in the 1840s, he often finished his exhibited pictures with few details. The last marks he added to this painting seem to have been the outlines added to the blocks of white that make up the distant sails. Turner makes a reference to the Dutch 17th-century artist Jacob van Ruisdael in the name he gives his imaginary port. Turner first encountered the work of the artist during his visit to the Louvre in Paris in 1802.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2020</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
18 February 2002 – 26 May 2002
2002-05-26
18 February 2002 – 26 May 2002
2002-05-26
2002-02-18
Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, USA)
http://www.artbma.org
4 October 2002 – 12 January 2003
2003-01-12
2002-10-04
Fundación Juan March (Madrid, Spain)
http://www.march.es
14 February 2003 – 30 April 2003
2003-04-30
2003-02-14
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon, Portugal)
http://www.museu.gulbenkian.pt/
2002-02-18
Turner - Baltimore
Tate partnerships & programmes
18 February 2002 – 26 October 2002
2002-10-26
18 February 2002 – 26 May 2002
2002-05-26
2002-02-18
Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, USA)
http://www.artbma.org
4 September 2002 – 19 January 2003
2003-01-19
2002-09-04
Fundación Juan March (Madrid, Spain)
http://www.march.es
20 February 2003 – 18 May 2003
2003-05-18
2003-02-20
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon, Portugal)
2002-02-18
Turner and the Sea
Tate partnerships & programmes
22 July 2002 – 21 May 2007
2007-05-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-07-22
Finished or Unfinished
Collection based display
21 September 2009 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
21 September 2009 – 24 January 2010
2010-01-24
2009-09-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
22 February 2010 – 23 May 2010
2010-05-23
2010-02-22
Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, France)
21 June 2010 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
2010-06-21
Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid, Spain)
2009-09-21
Turner and the Masters
Exhibition
22 February 2010 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
21 September 2009 – 3 January 2010
2010-01-03
2009-09-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
22 February 2010 – 23 May 2010
2010-05-23
2010-02-22
Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, France)
21 June 2010 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
2010-06-21
Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid, Spain)
2010-02-22
Turner and the Masters
Loan-out
2 June 2011 – 22 April 2012
2012-04-22
2 June 2011 – 11 September 2011
2011-09-11
2011-06-02
Bucerius Kunst Forum (Hamburg, Germany)
http://www.buceriuskunstforum.de
1 October 2011 – 8 January 2012
2012-01-08
2011-10-01
National Museum (Krakow, Poland)
28 January 2012 – 22 April 2012
2012-04-22
2012-01-28
Turner Contemporary (Margate, UK)
2011-06-02
Turner and the Elements
Loan-out
21 November 2013 – 1 September 2014
2014-09-01
21 November 2013 – 21 April 2014
2014-04-21
2013-11-21
National Maritime Museum (London, UK)
http://www.nmm.ac.uk
4 June 2014 – 1 September 2014
2014-09-01
2014-06-04
Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, USA)
http://www.pem.org
2013-11-21
Turner and Marine Painting: Imagining the Sea, 1796 - 1899
Loan-out
10 September 2014 – 20 September 2015
2015-09-20
10 September 2014 – 25 January 2015
2015-01-25
2014-09-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
24 February 2015 – 24 May 2015
2015-05-24
2015-02-24
J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, USA)
20 June 2015 – 20 September 2015
2015-09-20
2015-06-20
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum (San Francisco, USA)
http://www.famsf.org
2014-09-10
Late Turner: Painting Set Free
Exhibition
24 February 2015 – 31 January 2016
2016-01-31
24 February 2015 – 24 May 2015
2015-05-24
2015-02-24
J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, USA)
20 June 2015 – 20 September 2015
2015-09-20
2015-06-20
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum
31 October 2015 – 31 January 2016
2016-01-31
2015-10-31
Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada)
http://www.ago.net
2015-02-24
Late Turner
Loan-out
1 August 2016 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
1 August 2016 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
2016-08-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2016-08-01
Clore 104 Turner exhibited
Collection based display
26 September 2022 – 15 September 2023
2023-09-15
26 September 2022 – 15 September 2023
2023-09-15
2022-09-26
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2022-09-26
JMW Turner and Lamin Fofana: Dark Waters
Collection based display
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
2023-10-28
Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany)
2023-10-28
Turner at Lenbachhaus Munich
Loan-out
Fishing Boats Bringing a Disabled Ship into Port Ruysdael
support: 914 × 1232 mm
frame: 1187 × 1507 × 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>By the time Turner painted this work, in the 1840s, he often finished his exhibited pictures with few details. The last marks he added to this painting seem to have been the outlines added to the blocks of white that make up the distant sails. Turner makes a reference to the Dutch 17th-century artist Jacob van Ruisdael in the name he gives his imaginary port. Turner first encountered the work of the artist during his visit to the Louvre in Paris in 1802.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2020-07-01T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>408. </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-fishing-boats-bringing-a-disabled-ship-into-port-ruysdael-n00536" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00536</span></a>]<b> Fishing Boats bringing a Disabled Ship into Port Ruysdael</b> Exh. 1844</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (536)</p>
<p>Canvas, 36 × 48 1/2 (91·5 × 123)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (12, ‘Port Ruysdael’ 4'0" × 3'0"); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1948.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> R.A. 1844 (21); Paris 1965 (37, repr.); <i>Marine Paintings</i>
Arts Council tour, October 1965–April 1966 (26, repr.).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Ruskin 1843 (1903–12, iii, pp. 568–9); Thornbury 1862, i, p. 348; 1877, p. 466; Hamerton 1879, p. 299; Bell 1901, p. 149 no. 243; Armstrong 1902, p. 230; Davies 1946, pp. 152, 185; Finberg 1961, pp. 397–8, 400–01, 508 no. 557; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 68; Wilton 1979, p. 205; Gage 1980, p. 196; Bachrach 1981, pp. 19–20, 25, pl. 2; Joll 1981, pp. 148–51, pl. 39.</p>
<p>In a rather surprising passage in a letter to his dealer Griffith of 1 February 1844 Turner asks, ‘and Pray tell me if the new Port Ruysdael shall be with fish only’, suggesting that the picture was then under way and was being painted on commission; it was never sold, however. For Turner's fictitious ‘Port Ruysdael’ see his 1827 exhibit of this title, No. 237.</p>
<p>This picture received little attention from the press compared to the more controversial of the year's exhibits. For a reference in the <i>Spectator</i>
for 11 May 1844 see No. 407.</p>
<p>Ruskin described this as ‘among the most perfect sea pictures he [Turner] has produced, and especially remarkable as being painted without one marked opposition either of colour or of shade, all quiet and simple even to an extreme, so that the picture was exceedingly unattractive at first sight.’</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
2004-07-14T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
boat, fishing harbour sea seascapes and coasts ship - non-specific society storm transport: water wave weather