Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight
1835
Painter, British, 1775 - 1851

Joseph Mallord William Turner excelled at capturing the beauty and mysteries of light. Cool, white moonlight contrasts with warm, yellow and orange firelight. Shimmering reflections animate the water’s still surface.
The setting is the port of Newcastle, England, where coal from inland mines is being loaded onto ships. Coal was used to fuel the factories, mills, railroads, steamships, and other great machines that were transforming Britain during the Industrial Revolution. The dark smoke rising on the right may refer to the increasing air pollution.

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 57
Artwork overview
-
Medium
oil on canvas
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 92.3 x 122.8 cm (36 5/16 x 48 3/8 in.)
framed: 127.6 x 158.1 x 14 cm (50 1/4 x 62 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1942.9.86
More About this Artwork

Video: Joseph Mallord William Turner's "Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight" (ASL)
This video provides an ASL description of Joseph Mallord William Turner's Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight.
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Painted for Henry McConnel [1801-1871], The Polygon, Ardwick, Manchester; sold 1849 to John Naylor [1813-1889], Leighton Hall, Liverpool;[1] passed to his wife, Georgiana Naylor, née Edwards [1818-1909]; purchased 1910 through (Dyer and Sons) by (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London); re-entered April 1910 in Agnew's stock in joint ownership with (Arthur J. Sulley & Co., London); purchased 13 June 1910 from (Arthur J. Sulley & Co., London) by Peter A.B. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park.
[1] This work was painted as a companion to NGA 1942.9.85 (Venice: The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore), exhibited the previous year at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and also owned by McConnel. He was obliged to sell the pictures at a time of business adversity, but regretted selling his Turners to John Naylor, and in 1861 tried, unsuccessfully, to buy at least one of them back. Letter from McConnel to John Naylor, 28 May 1861 (quoted in Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, 2 vols., rev. ed., New Haven: 1984: I:205).
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1835
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1835, no. 24.
Modern Artists, Royal Manchester Institution, 1835, no. 260.
1854
Pictures, Exhibited at a Soirée, Given by John Buck Lloyd, Esquire, Mayor of Liverpool, Town Hall, Liverpool, 23 September 1854, no. 21.
1887
Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1887, no. 14.
1914
Paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. and J.M.W. Turner, R.A., M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, 1914, no. 36.
1974
Turner 1775-1851, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1974-1975, no. 513, color repro.
1983
J.M.W. Turner, Grand Palais, Paris, 1983-1984, no. 61, color repro.
1986
Turner, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 1986, no. 33, color repro.
1996
Turner, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1996, no. 18, repro.
1997
The Victorians: British Painting in the Reign of Queen Victoria, 1837-1901, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1997, no. 1, color repro., as Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Night.
2003
Turner: The Late Seascapes, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown; Manchester Art Gallery; The Burrell Collection, Glasgow, 2003-2004, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 23, repro. (shown only in Williamstown).
Turner and Venice, Tate Britain, London; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 2003-2004, no. 38, repro.
2007
J.M.W. Turner, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Dallas Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007-2008, no. 115, repro.
2012
Turner Inspired: In the Light of Claude, The National Gallery, London, 2012, no. 55, repro.
2013
Turner & the Sea, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, 2013-2014, no. 86, repro. (shown only in Greenwich).
2022
Turner’s Modern World, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 2022, not in catalogue.
Bibliography
1835
Fraser's Magazine 12 (12 July 1835): 55.
London Literary Gazette, no. 955, 9 May 1835: 298.
Morning Chronicle, 6 May 1835.
Spectator, 8, no. 358, 9 May 1835: 447.
The Times (London), 23 May 1835.
1915
Roberts, William. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: British and Modern French Schools, Philadelphia, 1915: unpaginated, repro.
1923
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.
1931
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 20, repro.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 7.
1944
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 148, color repro.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 97, repro.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 148.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 26.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 322, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 133.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:372, color repro.
1968
Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 152, color repro.
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 120, repro.
1973
Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 93, 99 repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 354, repro.
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 600, color repro.
1979
Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 99, pl. 87.
Wilton, Andrew. The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner. London, 1979: 220, color pl. 217 (detail).
1980
Collected Correspondence of J.M.W. Turner. Edited by John Gage. Oxford, 1980: 159, no. 198.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 413, no. 585, color repro.
Butlin, Martin, and Evelyn Joll. The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner. 2 vols. New Haven and London, 1977. (2d rev. ed., 1984): 1:no. 360; 2:color pl. 363.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 405, repro.
1986
Treuherz, Julian. "The Turner Collector: Henry McConnel, Cotton Spinner." Turner Studies 6 (1986): 38-39, 40-41, 42, fig. 3.
1987
Wilton, Andrew. Turner in His Time. London, 1987: 186, repro. 253.
1992
Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 278-280, color repro. 279.
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 157, repro.
1997
The Victorians: British Painting in the Reign of Queen Victoria, 1837-1901. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997: no. 1.
Rodner, William S. J.M.W. Turner: Romantic Painter of the Industrial Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: v, 298-299, 346-3471, no. 278, color repro.
2008
Schwander, Martin, ed. Venice: From Canaletto and Turner to Monet. Ostfildern, 2008: 61, 67 n. 14.
2011
Tabili, Laura. Global Migrants, Local Culture: Natives and Newcomers in Provincial England, 1841-1939. London, 2011: cover, color repro.
Inscriptions
lower left on buoy: JMWT
Wikidata ID
Q20185817