Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for Fish

1837–38

Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851)

In this massive painting, celebrated British landscape artist Joseph Mallord William Turner pursued a theme of longstanding interest to him: the sea. On the left, a large fishing vessel engages in business with a huckster, or peddler, who stands in a small boat in the shadows to the right, gesturing with a raised arm. Both the subject and low horizon draw on the tradition of 17th-century Dutch marine painting, but the work also reflects Turner’s growing interest in dramatic effects of atmosphere and light. In the distance, the artist included a steam-driven vessel trailing a plume of dark smoke, which alludes to the arrival of a new, modern era at sea.

Status: On View, Gallery 220
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner
Title: Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for Fish
Place: England (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1832–1842
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Inscribed: J.M.W. Turner (on top flag of nearest boat)
Dimensions: 174.5 × 224.9 cm (68 3/4 × 88 1/2 in.); Framed: 216.6 × 268 cm (85 1/4 × 105 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Kimball Collection
Reference Number: 1922.4472
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/4796/manifest.json

Literary Gazette (February 10, 1838).
“Fine Arts: British Institution,” Athenaeum 538 (February 17, 1838), p. 130.
Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain vol. 3 (London, 1854), p. 251.
Walter Thornbury, The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A. vol. 2 (London, 1862), p. 400, 2nd edition, London, 1877, pp. 582, 597.
Charles Francis Bell, A List of the Works Contributed to Public Exhibitions by J. M. W. Turner, R. A. (London, 1901), p. 135, no. 211.
Walter Armstrong, Turner (London and New York, 1902), p. 229.
William Lionel Wyllie, J. M. W. Turner, R. A. (London, 1905), p. 172, no. 211.
The Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin 14 (1920), pp. 71 (ill.), 77.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, Paintings, and Drawings vol. 2 (Chicago, 1920), p. 60, no. 769.
Marguerite B. Williams, “Valuable Collection of Paintings Added to Chicago’s Art Treasures,” America Today–Fort Dearborn Magazine (1924), p. 10 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide of the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago, 1925), pp. 36, 155, no. 769.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago, 1956), p. 32.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), p. 456.
Alexander J. Finberg, The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A. (Oxford, 1961), pp. 360, 397-98, 501, no. 477.
Jeremy Maas, Victorian Paintings (London, 1969), pp. 61, 71 (ill.).
Edward Morris, “John Naylor and Other Collectors of Modern Paintings in 19th Century Britain,” Walker Art Gallery Liverpool Annual Report and Bulletin 1974-75 (1975), p. 98, no. 199.
Marin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner (New Haven and London, 1977), pp. 202-3, no. 372, pl. 350.
John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America (New York, 1979), p. 280.
Andrew Wilton, J. M. W. Turner: His Art and Life (New York, 1979), p. 283, no. P372.
John Gage, ed., Collected Correspondence of J.M. W. Turner With An Early Diary and A Memoir By George Jones (Oxford, 1980), p. 195, letter no. 264.
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner (New Haven and London, 1984), pp. 223-24, no. 372, pl. 380.
James N. Wood and Katherine C. Lee, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1988), p. 460.
Jon Margolis, “When Paintings Talk…,” Chicago Tribune Magazine (September 17, 1995), p. 15 (ill.).

London, British Institution, 1838, cat. 134.
Liverpool Town Hall, Pictures Exhibited at a Soiree Given by John Buck Lloyd Esq., Mayor of Liverpool, at the Town Hall on Saturday Evening September 23, 1854, 1854, cat. 40.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1933, cat. 205.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1934, cat. 153.

Bought from the artist by John Naylor (died 1889), Leighton Hall, Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, 1851 [based on inventory of Naylor’s collection begun in October 1856 citied in Butlin and Joll 1984, p. 145; see also Thornbury 1862]; by descent to Mrs. Naylor, presumably his widow; sold through Dyer and Sons to Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, 1910 [this and the following information according to Butlin and Joll 1984]; sold to Mrs. W. W. Kimball (died 1921), Chicago, 1910; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1922.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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