Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries

Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A.

Figures on the Beach at Margate, Kent

VAT reduced rate

Auction Closed

July 6, 10:38 AM GMT

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A.

London 1775 - 1851

Figures on the Beach at Margate, Kent

Watercolour, bodycolour and pencil, heightened with coloured chalks on grey-blue paper

140 by 192 mm

Mrs Sophia Booth (1798-1875), the artist’s landlady,
John Pound, her son;
Lawrence W. Hodson, Compton Hall by 1884,
thence by descent until 1978,
sale, London, Sotheby’s, 30 November 1978, part of lot 97,
where acquired by Richard Feigen (1930-2021),
with R.L. Feigen & Co., New York;
sale, London, Sotheby's, 22 March 2000, lot 261,
where acquired by the present owner

Tokyo, Mitsukoshi, Turner Watercolours and Drawings, 1979, no. 5;
Colorado, Turner Watercolours and Drawings, 1981, no. 5

This spontaneous and light filled sketch has been dated to 1840 and shows figures on the beach at Margate, as seen from Turner’s lodgings at Mrs Booth’s boarding house in Cold Harbour just to the east of Margate's main harbour.

It is directly comparable with a watercolour held at Yale’s Center for British Art that was, until recently, known as ‘Cricket on the Goodwin Sands’.¹Both watercolours must of have been painted at about the same time, as they each indicate strong sun light on the golden sand and include several of the same figures. For another view of Margate by Turner please see lot 60.

1. A. Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, no. 916