Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Inscribed: (right foreground, on building) SALTAS[H] / ENGLAND / EXPECT[S] EV[ERY] / [MAN TO DO HIS DUTY] (after Nelson's signal to the fleet before the Battle of Trafalgar); (middle ground, on building) BEER
Gallery Label This picture is a product of Turner's journey to the west of England in summer 1811 and was exhibited at the artist's private gallery in 1812. Saltash is in Cornwall, across the Tamar River from Devonport and Plymouth. Ruskin described the painting in a letter of 1852 as "what the mind sees when it looks for poetry in humble actual life." The sky is damaged, but the lower half of the painting is well preserved.
Provenance Joseph Hogarth, London (until 1851; Royal Gallery of British Art sale, Christie's, London, June 13, 1851, no. 50*, as Saltash, Devon, for £346.10.0 to Bicknell); ?Elhanan Bicknell, Herne Hill, Surrey (from 1851); John Miller, Liverpool (by 1853–after 1858; his sale, Christie's, London, May 22, 1858, no. 249, for £430 to Gambart for Miller); by descent to his daughter, Maria C. Miller (by 1868–1886/87; sold for 3,000 gns. through Charles W. Deschamps to Marquand); Henry G. Marquand, New York (1886/87–1889)
Exhibition History London. Turner's gallery. May 11–June 6, 1812 (as Saltash with the Water Ferry) [see Ref. Finberg 1939].
Dublin. Royal Hibernian Academy. 1846, no. 106 (as Saltash, Devon).
Edinburgh. Royal Scottish Academy. "27th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy," February 12–May 7, 1853, no. 72 (lent by John Miller).
Manchester. Museum of Ornamental Art. "Art Treasures of the United Kingdom," May 5–October 17, 1857, no. 239 (as "Saltash," lent by John Miller).
Leeds City Museum. "National Exhibition of Works of Art," 1868, no. 1155 (lent by Miss Miller).
Liverpool Art Club. "Loan Collection of Oil Paintings by British Artists Born Before 1801," October 1881, no. 160 (lent by Miss Miller).
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Winter Exhibition," January–March 1885, no. 54 (as Saltash, Devon, lent by Miss Maria C. Miller).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Exhibition of 1888–89," 1888–89, no. 12 (as "Saltash").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Temporary Exhibition," April 1906, no. 36.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Paintings, Drawings and Prints by J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, R. P. Bonington," March 21–April 28, 1946, no. 5.
Art Gallery of Toronto. "Paintings by J. M. W. Turner," October 12–November 18, 1951, no. 6.
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Paintings by J. M. W. Turner," December 6, 1951–January 2, 1952, no. 6.
Winnipeg Art Gallery. "Paintings by J. M. W. Turner," January 6–27, 1952, no. 6.
Iowa City. University of Iowa Gallery of Art. "Impressionism and Its Roots," November 8–December 6, 1964, no. 8.
Essen. Museum Folkwang. "William Turner: Licht und Farbe," September 15, 2001–January 6, 2002, no. 70.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "William Turner: Licht und Farbe," February 1–May 26, 2002, no. 70.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "J. M. W. Turner," October 1, 2007–January 6, 2008, no. 37.
Dallas Museum of Art. "J. M. W. Turner," February 10–May 18, 2008, no. 37.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "J. M. W. Turner," June 24–September 21, 2008, no. 37.
References John Taylor. Sun (June 9, 1812) [see Ref. Finberg 1939].Turner and His Works . London, 1852, pp. 58, 104, pl. 5.Letter to Francis McCracken . November 22, 1852.John Cassell's Art Treasures Exhibition: Containing Engravings of the Principal Masterpieces . London, [1857], p. 97.A Handbook to the Gallery of British Paintings in the Art Treasures Exhibition . London, 1857, p. 63.Trésors d'art en Angleterre . Brussels, 1860, p. 425.The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R.A. London, 1862, vol. 1, p. 290.Athenaeum (February 7, 1885).Portfolio (February 1885).Spectator (March 5, 1885).Letter to Henry G. Marquand . November 22, 1886.New York Times (September 17, 1898), p. RBA618.The Treasures of The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York . New York, 1899, p. 70.Turner . London, 1902, p. 228.Masters in Art: Turner 3 (November 1902), p. 39.J. M. W. Turner . London, 1905, p. 39.Burlington Magazine 22 (February 1913), p. 270, pl. IIIG.J. M. W. Turner, 1775–1851 . London, 1923, p. 35.British Painting . London, 1933, p. 287.The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R.A. Oxford, 1939, pp. 190–91, 474, no. 173, p. 510, no. 579.Letters of Roger Fry . New York, 1972, vol. 1, p. 255 n. 1.Turner in the British Museum: Drawings and Watercolours . Exh. cat., British Museum. London, 1975, p. 63.The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner . New Haven, 1977, vol. 1, pp. 76–77, 237, no. 121; vol. 2, pl. 109.Art Bulletin 62 (March 1980), p. 169.The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner . rev. ed. New Haven, 1984, vol. 1, pp. 85–86, 262, no.121; vol. 2, pl. 125.Oxford, China, and Italy: Writings in Honour of Sir Harold Acton on his Eightieth Birthday . London, 1984, p. 231.Turner Studies: His Art & Epoch 1775–1851 7 (Summer 1987), p. 38.Turner: A Life . London, 1997, pp. 151–52.in Oxford University Press. The Oxford Companion to J. M. W. Turner . Oxford, 2001, pp. 24, 187.William Turner: Licht und Farbe . Exh. cat., Museum Folkwang, Essen. Cologne, 2001, pp. 140, 308, no. 70, ill. (color).Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 87, no. 2 (2005), pp. 67–68, 87–88.in J. M. W. Turner . Exh. cat., Washington National Gallery of Art. London, 2007, p. 242.in J. M. W. Turner . Exh. cat., Washington National Gallery of Art. London, 2007, pp. 75, 96.in J. M. W. Turner . Exh. cat., Washington National Gallery of Art. London, 2007, pp. 69, 254, no. 37, ill. (color).in J. M. W. Turner . Exh. cat., Washington National Gallery of Art. London, 2007, p. 82.
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