Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A.

Benjamin Godfrey Windus, 1847;
C. Pemberton;
W.J. Houldsworth;
with Agnew's, London, by 1881;
Daniel Thwaites, before 1913;
Private Scottish Collection;
by descent to the present owner

London, Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, 1829;
Manchester, Manchester Art Treasures, 1857, no. 321;
New York, Gerson Galleries, Turner Watercolours, 1960, no. 22;
London, Agnew's, Paintings and Watercolours by J.M.W. Turner, R.A., 1967, no. 60;
The British Council, Zwei Jahrhunderte der Englische Malerei, 1969, no. 51;
London, Royal Academy, Turner Bicentenary Exhibition, 1974-75, no. 151;
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, J.M.W. Turner, 1996, no. 62

Engraved:

by R. Wallis for The Keepsake, 1830 (R. 323) (and reprinted in 1836 in Heath's Gallery of British Engraving)

Sir Walter Armstrong, Turner, 1902, p. 283;
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, London, 1979, p. 359, no. 519;
Ann Lapraik Livermore, 'Turner and Music', Turner Studies, 1983, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 46;
Selby Whittingham, 'The Turner Collector: Benjamin Godfrey Windus 1790-1867', Turner Studies, 1987, vol. 7, no. 2, p. 33;
Eric Shanes, Turner's England 1810-38, 1990, p. 161, no. 132

"The following condition report has been provided by Jane McAusland, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. SUPPORT Turner has used a sheet of Whatman paper to support this watercolour, and the watermark is visible on the left-hand side of the sheet. The condition is good and at present is hinged into an overlay mount for full display. There is a small restored hole in the lower part of the sky towards the right, and a little mottling also in the sky. This watercolour has been cleaned. MEDIUM The more subtle tints that Turner has used are as usual slightly faded, but the stronger pigments are bright and lively. There are a few small retouched areas in the sky."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Turner's watercolour of Virginia Water dates from the late 1820s. Sketches for it can be found in the Kenilworth Sketchbook (Turner Bequest, Tate Britain) and it is one of the two watercolours of that title which were engraved for The Keepsake Annual in 1830. The other watercolour, which also shows the Chinese fishing pavilion, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886, but is currently untraced. However, our understanding of its composition is made possible by the R. Wallis engraving (see Fig.1).

The present view is taken from the east, near the road and it shows the lake looking towards the Chinese pavilion (demolished in 1936). Near the pavilion is a fishing boat fitted with an awning and the Royal standard, indicating that the King is on board. George IV was a keen fisherman and the Chinese pavilion was "used almost daily to enjoy the amusement of angling".[1]  Nearer the foreground a military band plays on board an elegant barge being towed by a rowing boat (see Fig.2). To the right can be seen the boathouse.

On the calm water's surface are two buoys decorated with the Cross of St. George, which is also shown on the flag at the stern of the band's elegant barge. Such ceremonial elements indicate that the date is 23^rd April, St. George's Day, the King's official birthday, and coincidentally, Turner's birthday too.

Turner makes a reference to himself in the composition by showing two mallards skimming away into shelter on the left. In this and other works he chose mallards to represent his middle name 'Mallord', and in the second, untraced version, mallard again were present fleeing the impending attack of a Royal swan. It has been suggested that this is a witty but carefully unprovable reference, revealing Turner's perception of his lack of esteem in the eyes of the King. 

Certainly Turner's attempts to gain Royal commissions would support such a view. Both of these watercolours were supposedly offered to the Royal Collection, reportedly for 80 Guineas, and rejected. It would appear that the subject was made specifically to appeal to the King, and there are early indications that as Prince Regent he may have admired Turner's work. It has been suggested, for instance, that the Prince Regent in his speech at the Royal Academy annual dinner in 1811 was referring to Turner's Mercury and Herse when he spoke of, "landscapes that Claude would have admired".[2] There is evidence too in Farington's diaries that the Prince of Wales wished to encourage the collecting of British modern art: "he talked much about advancing the Art in this country (and was) much disposed to make a collection of the works of British artists".[3]

On 20^th June 1814, the Prince Regent is likely to have witnessed Turner sketching a review of the Fleet in the presence of the Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia and himself. Certainly there is evidence of Turner endeavouring to produce work for George IV during the 1820s, and in 1822 he planned to produce a series of engravings recording the King's visit to Scotland. Turner travelled up the east coast in early August that year, working in two sketchbooks, one King's visit to Scotland and the other King at Edinburgh. Instead of engravings from that trip, Turner made four unfinished paintings. 

The prime opportunity for a Royal commission came the next year when Sir Thomas Lawrence arranged for Turner to paint for the King, H.M.S. Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Turner worked from notes he had made in 1805, made oil sketches and borrowed drawings from John Christian Schetky, George IV's Marine Painter in Ordinary. He then painted the magnificent Battle of Trafalgar in 1824, the largest canvas of his career. It must have been a severe blow when the painting was not approved by the King and his advisors. As Benjamin Robert Haydon wrote in his diary on 27^th May 1824 with reference to the painting, "...the Government was not satisfied. This had done great injury".[4]

However, Turner would have known that as Prince of Wales, Prince Regent and then monarch, King George IV was a genuine and eloquent supporter of the Arts, whether the Theatre, Music or Fine Arts and so he must have been puzzled that he failed to attract the King as a patron.

During the Prince Regent's speech of April 1811 at the Royal Academy Annual Dinner, he spoke of the "pride and satisfaction" which he felt in sitting in a room full of Art which would have "done honour to any country".[5] He said that others might be more able to judge the competency of the artists but they, "could not exceed him in his love of the Arts".[6] Turner would also have been aware of the King's urging of the Government to form a national collection of Fine Art which would rival those of Italy and France, resulting in the Government's purchase of the Angerstein Collection (38 pictures) for £57,000 and the collection of Sir George Beaumont (16 pictures). In 1814 as Prince Regent he had already acquired the Baring Collection of 86 pictures. We know of his unconventional interest in Gainsborough's landscapes as well as portraits, and also in the work of Reynolds, Romney, Hoppner and Wilkie and especially Lawrence.

The date of this watercolour, circa 1828, would appear to have been ideal for the taste of the King. In spite of its recent completion, the King's attention was taken away from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and directed towards Windsor. There he was known to enjoy angling on the lake at Virginia Water. Therefore, when Turner chose as his subject Virginia Water on the King's official birthday, with buoys and flags showing the Cross of St. George, he might have expected his work to fulfil the desires of the King as a collector and a keen visitor to the lake. It is not certain whether it was one or both of the Virginia Water watercolours that were offered to the Royal Collection, but we know they were not accepted. Both then were engraved for The Keepsake Annual in the year of the monarch's death, and the first recorded owner was Benjamin Godfrey Windus (1790–1867) who is known to have owned this watercolour in 1847.

The Windus Collection of Turner watercolours (see Fig. 2) was one of the largest and most distinguished of its kind. A coachmaker who lived in Tottenham Green, Windus gathered over 180 Turners. It was such a substantial collection that John Ruskin claimed it was "to the general student, inestimable, and, for me the means of writing Modern Painters"[7], his extensive appraisal of Turner's work. Exactly when Virginia Water passed on to the Pemberton collection is unknown, although almost all of Windus' watercolours changed hands within his life and privately.

[1]. Handbook to Berkshire, Murray 1882
[2]. The Farington Diaries, Joseph Farington R.A. edited by James Greig, Vol. XI, p. 3945
[3]. Ibid, p. 3691
[4]. Andrew Wilton, Turner in his Time, p. 145, 1987
[5]. The Farington Diaries, Joseph Farington R.A. edited by James Greig, Vol. XI, p. 3919
[6]. Ibid, Vol. XI, p. 3919
[7]. J. Ruskin, Praeterita, II, I, II (ed. K. Clark, 1949, p. 230).