Engraved by Jeavons after Turner. ( England and Wales. Rawlinson 237. Wilton 813.)
The original watercolour was at some time in Ruskin 's collection ( Works, 13.599), and was one of the watercolours hanging in Ruskin's bedroom at the time of his death (see Works, 35.xliv (Plate B), and Works, 35.lxxvii). It is among a group of works which Ruskin discussed in The Harbours of England (1856) to demonstrate 'Turner's most peculiar, unexampled and unapproachable gifts for marine painting' ( Works, 13.48); in the same book the Devonport is given as an example of Turner 's reluctance 'to draw complete rigging' on ships ( Works, 13.59). In the notes on the 1878 exhibition of works from his own collection by Turner, Ruskin comments that the drawing of the figures demonstrates Turner's clear perception of 'the especial forte of England' in 'vulgarity', adding that no 'more wonderful drawing... exists, by his hand, than this one, and the sky is the most exquisite in my own entire collection of his drawings ( Works, 13.438-39).
J.M.W. Turner 1775-1851
Devonport and Dockyard, Devonshire c.1828
Watercolour, 28.7x43.9cm
Exhibitions: MBG 1833
Engraving:
Engraved by T. Jeavons, 1830
Copper engraving, 16x24.4cm
Engraved for the England and Wales series
Provenance: John Ruskin; Agnew; Charles Fairfax Murray, who gave it to the Fogg Art Museum in memory of W.J. Stillman, 1903
Collection: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., USA
For a reproduction of this artistic work, please consult: Shanes, Eric, Turner's Picturesque Views in England and Wales, (Chatto & Windus, 1979), p.30/pl.27