Turner's 'ghost ship' sails again
October 10 2016
Picture: Whitworth Art Gallery/Sunday Times
There's a new exhibition on at the Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate, called 'Adventures in Colour'. One of the exhibits is a very rarely seen sketch by Turner (above) which has been called 'the phantom ship', on account of the ghostly set of sails in the distance. The picture is actually a view of Margate beach.
Despite being found in the house of Turner's Margate 'companion', Mrs Booth, the status of the picture has been doubted, leading to the picture remaining in storage at Whitworth art gallery, which owns the picture. But the leading Turner expert Ian Warrell is a longstanding champion of the painting, and has included it in the new Turner Contemporary show. Warrell links the pictures to the three Margate scenes we investigated in an early episode of 'Fake or Fortune?' More details here and here.
