{"data":{"id":4796,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/4796","is_boosted":true,"title":"Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for Fish","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBgAFAPQAADguGk4\/KkxMR1pPQWFURW9hTmlkWnpvW39yX4RwUINyWY57WYp4ZJN8YZmAYZuBZaiRbamPc7Kac7ygfKGWgaybgqKekbSghZOip6Koo8u0lcGymuHEndLDqQAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAAGAAUAAAUY4EFlmHUZFddtmtBMzBMhjlIQwwJJSQCEADs=","width":8912,"height":6887,"alt_text":"Large marine landscape of boats on rough waves, storm clouds."},"main_reference_number":"1922.4472","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1832,"date_end":1842,"date_display":"1837\u201338","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775\u20131851)","place_of_origin":"England","description":"

English artist J. M. W. Turner was fascinated by the sea. Here, a crowded fishing boat rides atop rolling, tumultuous waves. A smaller boat occupied by hucksters, or peddlers, navigates the churning waters as it approaches the larger vessel to negotiate the buying of fish to sell back at port. A steamship chugs along in the background, signaling the new industrial age.<\/p>\n

This painting dates from a period when the artist was increasingly interested in atmospheric drama and the effects of light, exemplified here by the turbulent storm brewing in the background. The sunlit water in the foreground is dotted with a thick impasto, the heavy application of paint that results in painterly depth and surface texture. For this composition and others, Turner was inspired by the tradition of seventeenth-century Dutch marine painting and its leading painter, Willem van de Velde<\/a>, whose work was popular in England. The subject itself and compositional elements such as the low horizon line are characteristic of earlier Dutch seascapes, but Turner cleverly laid claim to this painting by signing it on the white flag fluttering high on the mast of the fishing boat that pokes through to the sliver of clear blue sky.<\/p>\n","short_description":null,"dimensions":"174.5 \u00d7 224.9 cm (68 3\/4 \u00d7 88 1\/2 in.); Framed: 216.6 \u00d7 268 cm (85 1\/4 \u00d7 105 1\/2 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":224,"height":174,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":null,"width":268,"height":216,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Inscribed: J.M.W. Turner (on top flag of nearest boat)","credit_line":"Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Kimball Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Literary Gazette (February 10, 1838).\n\n\u201cFine Arts: British Institution,\u201d Athenaeum 538 (February 17, 1838), p. 130.\n\nGustav Friedrich Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain vol. 3 (London, 1854), p. 251.\n\nWalter Thornbury, The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A. vol. 2 (London, 1862), p. 400, 2nd edition, London, 1877, pp. 582, 597.\n\nCharles Francis Bell, A List of the Works Contributed to Public Exhibitions by J. M. W. Turner, R. A. (London, 1901), p. 135, no. 211.\n\nWalter Armstrong, Turner (London and New York, 1902), p. 229.\n\nWilliam Lionel Wyllie, J. M. W. Turner, R. A. (London, 1905), p. 172, no. 211.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin 14 (1920), pp. 71 (ill.), 77.\n \nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, Paintings, and Drawings vol. 2 (Chicago, 1920), p. 60, no. 769.\n\nMarguerite B. Williams, \u201cValuable Collection of Paintings Added to Chicago\u2019s Art Treasures,\u201d America Today\u2013Fort Dearborn Magazine (1924), p. 10 (ill.).\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide of the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago, 1925), pp. 36, 155, no. 769.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago, 1956), p. 32.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), p. 456.\n\nAlexander J. Finberg, The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A. (Oxford, 1961), pp. 360, 397-98, 501, no. 477.\n\nJeremy Maas, Victorian Paintings (London, 1969), pp. 61, 71 (ill.).\n\nEdward Morris, \u201cJohn Naylor and Other Collectors of Modern Paintings in 19th Century Britain,\u201d Walker Art Gallery Liverpool Annual Report and Bulletin 1974-75 (1975), p. 98, no. 199.\n\nMarin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner (New Haven and London, 1977), pp. 202-3, no. 372, pl. 350.\n\nJohn D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America (New York, 1979), p. 280. \n\nAndrew Wilton, J. M. W. Turner: His Art and Life (New York, 1979), p. 283, no. P372.\n\nJohn 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.\n\nMartin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner (New Haven and London, 1984), pp. 223-24, no. 372, pl. 380.\n\nJames N. Wood and Katherine C. Lee, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1988), p. 460.\n\nJon Margolis, \u201cWhen Paintings Talk\u2026,\u201d Chicago Tribune Magazine (September 17, 1995), p. 15 (ill.).\n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 63 (ill.).\n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2026), 102, 260, no. 73, (ill.).","exhibition_history":"London, British Institution, 1838, cat. 134.\n\nLiverpool 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.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1933, cat. 205.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1934, cat. 153.","provenance_text":"Bought from the artist by John Naylor (died 1889), Leighton Hall, Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, 1851 [based on inventory of Naylor\u2019s 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.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":1923,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":32.808,"color":{"h":203,"l":59,"s":16,"percentage":0.07102904924620194,"population":391},"latitude":41.879961932298,"longitude":-87.6236885413526,"latlon":"41.879961932298,-87.623688541353","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 220","gallery_id":2147483611,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":37043,"artist_title":"Joseph Mallord William Turner","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[37043],"artist_titles":["Joseph Mallord William Turner"],"category_ids":["PC-10","PC-831"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe","Essentials"],"term_titles":["oil on canvas","fishing","19th century","oil painting","oil paint (paint)","nineteenth century","painting techniques","painting","painting","paint","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","british","men","figures","weather\/seasons","clouds","sky","sails","boatman","shadows","gestural","steam","smoke","painting (image making)","canvas","painting","european painting","landscapes","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","sailing","water","oceans","seas","storms","boats"],"style_id":"TM-13203","style_title":"19th century","alt_style_ids":["TM-15636"],"style_ids":["TM-13203","TM-15636"],"style_titles":["19th century","nineteenth century"],"classification_id":"TM-66","classification_title":"oil on canvas","alt_classification_ids":["TM-10387","TM-78","TM-15669","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-66","TM-10387","TM-78","TM-15669","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["oil on canvas","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","british","painting","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-12106","alt_subject_ids":["TM-10121","TM-15161","TM-10095","TM-11222","TM-12468","TM-14233","TM-14865","TM-12752","TM-12250","TM-15599","TM-12755","TM-8657","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12236","TM-8681","TM-12679","TM-12286","TM-12353","TM-8737"],"subject_ids":["TM-12106","TM-10121","TM-15161","TM-10095","TM-11222","TM-12468","TM-14233","TM-14865","TM-12752","TM-12250","TM-15599","TM-12755","TM-8657","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12236","TM-8681","TM-12679","TM-12286","TM-12353","TM-8737"],"subject_titles":["fishing","men","figures","weather\/seasons","clouds","sky","sails","boatman","shadows","gestural","steam","smoke","landscapes","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","sailing","water","oceans","seas","storms","boats"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-3124"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-3124"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","painting","paint","canvas"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3971","TM-14210","TM-3891"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-3971","TM-14210","TM-3891"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting techniques","painting","painting (image making)"],"theme_titles":["Essentials"],"image_id":"8641479e-c93e-f1a8-9925-19be061706da","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for Fish","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1922.4472"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for Fish"],"weight":27310,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-05-13T10:58:04-05:00","updated_at":"2026-08-06T12:09:48-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-01T19:05:09-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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