Margate - YCBA Collections Search

Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851, British, Margate, ca. 1822

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Creator:: Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851
Title:: Margate
Additional Title(s):: Study for 'Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England'
Date:: ca. 1822
Materials & Techniques:: Watercolor and scraping out on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:: Sheet: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches (15.6 x 23.5 cm)
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1975.4.965
Classification:: Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:: Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:: cityscape | cliffs | fishermen | landscape | marine art | ships | shipwrecks | shore (landform)
Associated Places:: Cumbria | England | Europe | Kent | Margate | Thanet, Isle of | United Kingdom
Access:: On view
Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:5456
Export:: XML
IIIF Manifest:: JSON

Throughout his career, Turner’s involvement with print provided dependable income as well as the scope to experiment with new pictorial approaches. This view shows Margate, the seaside town on the north coast of Kent that Turner returned to throughout his life. It was produced as a design for William Bernard Cooke’s lavish publication Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England (1814–26). The modest scale of the drawing belies the richness of its symbolic content. Most important is the contrast between the sweeping modern terraces that line the harbor and the scene of men hauling in a shipwreck in front of a heavily laden merchant ship. The former reflects the town’s role as a resort for leisured middle-class visitors; the latter, both the trade that supplies their comfortable lives and the great risks taken by the sailors and shoremen on whom they depend.

Gallery label for J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality (Yale Center for British Art, March - 29, 2025 - July 27, 2025)

J.M.W. Turner: Romance & Reality (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-03-29 - 2025-07-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

J. M. W. Turner - NGA (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008-06-23 - 2008-09-21) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

J. M. W. Turner - NGA (Dallas Museum of Art, 2008-02-10 - 2008-05-18) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

J. M. W. Turner - NGA (National Gallery of Art, 2007-10-01 - 2008-01-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Translations - Turner and Printmaking (Yale Center for British Art, 1993-09-29 - 1993-12-05) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

J. M. W. Turner (Musée du Louvre, 1983-10-14 - 1984-01-16) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Presences of Nature - British Landscape 1780-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-10-20 - 1983-02-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Louis Hawes, Presences of Nature : British Landscape, 1780-1830, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1982, pp. 27, 133, no. II.12, pl. 20, ND1354.4 H38 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Lady Lever Art Gallery, British watercolours and drawings : Lord Leverhulme's collection in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, , Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, 2010, pp. 198-199, fig. 55, N1455 A85 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Eric M. Lee, Translations : Turner and printmaking, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1993, p. 19, no. 39, NJ18 .T85 L44 1993 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Graham Reynolds, Turner, Thames & Hudson, London, 2020, fig. 96, NJ18.T85 R49 2020 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Ian Warrell, J.M.W. Turner, Tate Publishing, London, 2007, pp. 85, 189, no. 51, NJ18 T85 A12 2007 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Andrew Wilton, The life and work of J.M.W. Turner, Academy Editions, London, 1979, p. 353, no. 470, NJ18 T85 +W577 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

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