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Creator:
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851
Title:
The Victory Returning from Trafalgar, in Three Positions [2005, YCBA]
Former Title(s):
The "Victory" returning from Trafalgar [1964, The Paul Mellon Collection at Burlington House]
Date:
ca. 1803–6
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
26 3/8 x 39 1/2 inches (67 x 100.3 cm), Frame: 34 3/4 × 48 inches (88.3 × 121.9 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscription lower right, illegible.

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.634
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1981.25.634FR
Subject Terms:
boats | cliffs | HMS Victory | island | marine art | men-of-war | military art | navy | ships | ships of the line | skiffs | sky | war | warships | waves (natural events)
Associated Places:
England | Isle of Wight | The Needles | United Kingdom
Associated People:
Nelson, Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758–1805), British naval officer
Access:
On view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1097
Export:
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IIIF Manifest:
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HMS Victory was the setting of Admiral Lord Nelson’s most decisive triumph over Napoleonic France, the Battle of Trafalgar, and also the scene of his dramatic death. An irresistible subject for Turner’s brush, Victory brought together a heroic narrative, his skill in rendering maritime subjects, and the patriotic fervor of the British public. The painting has often been assumed to depict the ship on its return from Trafalgar with Nelson’s body. However, the background scenery of The Needles, a string of chalk rocks extending from the coast of the Isle of Wight, does not coincide with the course it took on its journey home. This implies, as does the simultaneous rendering of the ship from three points of view, that it should be regarded as an idealized portrait of the Royal Navy’s most famous warship.

Gallery label for J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality (Yale Center for British Art, March - 29, 2025 - July 27, 2025)


The Victory, which Turner shows from three different viewpoints, was the flagship of the popular British commander at the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Lord Nelson. After the battle, in which Nelson was killed by a sniper’s bullet, she sailed home with his body. Here she is passing the Isle of Wight, with the Needles to the left.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2022


The 100-gun Victory was the flagship of the British admiral Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805), who was killed by a French sniper's bullet during the Battle of Trafalgar. After the battle, and the gale that followed, the dismasted Victory was towed to Gibraltar. The officers and crew decided to bring Nelson's body home: "They have behaved well to us," wrote one of them, "for they wanted to take Ld. Nelson from us, but we told Captn., as we brought him out we would bring him home, so it was so and he was put into a cask of spirits." Here, Turner shows the Victory from three different angles passing the far western end of the Isle of Wight, with the so-called Needles to the left.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2009


The "Victory," which Turner shows from three different viewpoints, was the flagship of the popular British commander at the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Lord Nelson. After the battle, in which Nelson was killed by a sniper's bullet, she sailed home with his body. Here she is passing the Isle of Wight, with the Needles to the left.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 1998
Created by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), the artist; purchased by Walter Ramsden Hawkesworth Fawkes (1769–1825) [1], Farnley Hall; by descent to his son, Francis Hawkesworth Fawkes (1797–1871); by descent to his brother Reverend Ayscough Fawkes (1831–1899); purchased at auction for Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909) [2] by Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, at Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd., London, June 27, 1890 (lot 61, ‘The ‘Victory’ Returning from Trafalgar: beating up Channel in three positions; fresh breeze’) in “Drawings, Prop. Ayscough Fawkes” [a]; by descent to his granddaughter Elizabeth Margaret Murray (née Molteno) (1894–1967) [3]; purchased by Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1999), 1960 [b]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut, 1981.

Notes:
[1] Walter Ramsden Hawkesworth Fawkes, a Yorkshire politician and landowner, inherited Farnley Hall in 1792, at which point he also took the surname Fawkes. He was a close friend and prominent patron of the artist.
[2] Sir Donald Currie was a Scottish shipowner, politician and philanthropist.
[3] Elizabeth Margaret Murray (née Molteno) was the daughter of Percy Alport Molteno and Elisabeth Martin Currie (1856–1933), the daughter of Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909) and Margaret Currie (née Miller) (ca. 1830–1920). Margaret Currie (née Miller) (ca. 1830–1920) was the daughter of Liverpool merchant and art collector John Miller (ca. 1798–1876), who also collected works by Turner and once owned ‘Tummel Bridge, Perthshire’, now in the YCBA collection: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:376

Citations:
[a] Christie, Manson & Woods, Drawings, Prop. Ayscough Fawkes. 1890/6/27, London, 1890. https://archive.org/details/colourdra00chri/page/n9/mode/2up
[b] Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 226-227

J.M.W. Turner: Romance & Reality (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-03-29 - 2025-07-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Turner's Modern World (Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 2022-03-27 - 2022-07-10) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Turner's Modern World (Kimbell Art Museum, 2021-10-17 - 2022-02-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Spreading Canvas - Eighteenth - Century British Marine Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2016-09-09 - 2016-12-04) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

J.M.W. Turner : The Sun rising through Vapour (The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 2003-10-27 - 2004-01-31) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

J. M. W. Turner - A Selection of Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (National Gallery of Art, 1968-10-31 - 1969-04-21) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Painting in England 1700-1850 - From The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Sir Walter Armstrong, Turner, Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., London, 1902, p. 232, Folio A N 11 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Laura Beach, Spreading Canvas : Eighteenth-Centry British Marine Painting, Antiques and the Arts Weekly, vol. 48, Bee Publishing Company, Newtown, November 4, 2016, p. 31, V 2718 (YCBA) [YCBA]

David Blayney Brown, Turner's Modern World, Tate Publishing, London, 2020, p. 64, no. 36, NJ18.T85 A12 2020a Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Martin Butlin, The paintings of J.M.W. Turner, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1984, pp. 46-47, 69, no. 59, pl. 69, NJ18 T85 B885 1984 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 226-227, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Gabriele Crepaldi, Turner, Prestel, Munich ; London, 2011, pp. 56-59, NJ18.T85 C75 2011 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Deborah Cullen, Caribbean : Art at the Crossroads of the World, , El Museo del Barrio, New York, 2012, p. 88, N6591 .C375 2012 + OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Exhibition of works by the old masters and by deceased masters of the British School including a collection of water colour drawings, studies and sketches from nature Winter Exhibition 23d year, , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1892, p. 9, no. 22, Fiche B128 (YCBA) [YCBA]

A. J. Finberg, The life of J. M. W. Turner, R.A., , Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1961, pp. 125, 467, no. 102, NJ18 T85 F55 1961 (YCBA) [YCBA]

A. J. Finberg, Turner's water-colours, at Farnley Hall , The Studio, London, London, 1912, p. 20, Folio A N 35 (YCBA)

Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 67, ND466 .G67 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Luke Herrmann, The Paul Mellon Collection at Burlington House, Connoisseur, vol. 157, December 1964, pp. 218, 219, fig. 13, N1 C75 + OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Eleanor Hughes, Spreading Canvas : Eighteenth-Century British Marine Painting, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2016, p. 254-255, 268-269, cat. 129, ND 1373.G74 S67 2016 (YCBA) [YCBA]

J.M.W. Turner : a selection of paintings from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, , National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1968, pp. 13, 20, no. 5, fig. 5, NJ18 T85 U5 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Michael Lloyd, Turner, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1996, p. 58, NJ18 T85 L57 1996 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Franny Moyle, Turner : The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W. Turner, Penguin Books, New York, 2016, pp. 233, 260, NJ18 T85 M79 2016 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Old Masters at the Academy, Pall Mall Gazette, vol. 54, Saturday, January 3, 1892, p. 2, British Library Newspapers [ORBIS]

Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , , Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, p. 90 (v.1), p. 189 (v.2), no. 132, pl. 189, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, The Royal Academy of Arts Winter Exhibition 1964-65., , Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1964, p. 45 (v.1), no. 167, pl. 62, N5220.M45 R69 1964 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Christine Riding, Turner & the sea, Thames & Hudson, London, 2013, pp. 21, 61, 111, 112, 123, 184, fig. 20, NJ18.T85 R52 2013 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, Glasgow Herald, January 13, 1892, p. 5, British Library Newspapers [ORBIS]

Andrew Wilton, The life and work of J.M.W. Turner, Academy Editions, London, 1979, p. 258, no. P59, NJ18 T85 +W577 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale University Art Gallery, Painting in England, 1700-1850, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : [exhibition at] Yale University Art Gallery, April 15-June 20, 1965, , vol. 1, W. Clowes and sons, New Haven, 1965, p. 52 (v.1), no. 195, pl. 62, ND466 Y35 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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