Turner in Tottenham
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  • Home
    • Background
    • John Ruskin & Windus Collection >
      • Two Turner Collectors; Friends of Ruskin
    • Visitors to the Collection
    • Windus Auctions >
      • Christie's June 1842
      • Christie's June 1853
      • Christie's March 1859
      • Christie's July 1862
      • 1868 Sale after Windus death
    • Images and credits
    • Thanks
  • JMW Turner
    • The Windus Turner Collection >
      • Picturesque views >
        • England and Wales >
          • Charles Heath
          • Carisbrooke Castle
          • Richmond from the moors
          • Straits of Dover
        • Southern Coast >
          • Brighthelmston, Sussex
      • The Epicurean
      • Finden's Lord Byron
      • The Keepsake
      • Walter Scott >
        • Abbotsford
      • Later large watercolours
      • Marine Views (unpublished series)
    • Turner collection recreated >
      • Frames
      • Still framed?
      • The Windus Commissions
    • Turner oil paintings in the Collection >
      • Calais sands
      • The Tondos
      • Going to the ball
      • Later paintings
    • Letters to Windus
    • Turner Bequests: Henry Vaughan
    • Twickenham home
    • The Eccentric Mr Turner
    • Talks on Turner in Tottenham
  • PRB
    • Ford Madox Brown
    • Holman Hunt
    • Millais
    • Rossetti
    • Ruskin and the PRB
  • & Others
    • Blake
    • Frederick Leighton
    • Thomas Girtin
  • BG Windus
    • The Library
    • Family & inheritance >
      • Ansley Windus
      • Thomas Windus
    • Landowner
    • Places >
      • All Hallows >
        • William Bedwell
      • Holy Trinity
      • Old Well, Tottenham Green
      • Tottenham High Cross
      • Rodmell, East Sussex
    • People >
      • EH Baily RA
      • John Constable
      • Rowland Hill
      • William Hobson >
        • Defence of the Realm
      • Luke Howard
      • Priscilla Wakefield

Calais Sands at Low Water: Poissards Collecting Bait

The painting was shown at the Royal Academy in 1830.  It forms part of the Thomas Wrigley Gift to Bury made in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. 

According to the Greater Manchester Museums Group:

This extraordinary painting by JMW Turner is not only the ‘star’ painting in the Wrigley Gift, but also the finest and most important picture in the entire collection at Bury.

It is an excellent example of a sunset by an artist who is renowned for painting them. JMW Turner is generally accepted to have been the most important British painter of the 19th century whose high reputation has remained undimmed since his death in 1851.

At one level the picture is a view of Calais with enough recognisable elements in it to establish the location, notably the jetty and Fort Rouge on the left-hand side.

At another level it is a scene from everyday life with fisherwomen busy gathering bait on the beach in order to bait the lines for the next day’s fishing.

However, the real subject would appear to be the spectacular sunset that dominates about half of the picture surface and illuminates the seemingly limitless expanse of sand, water and sky, creating long shimmering reflections and subtle blends of colour.

Picture
Calais Sands at Low Water Bury Art Museum
© COPYRIGHT 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Picture