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Created by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), the artist; … [1]; acquired in London by Emily Sherrill Eames MacVeagh (1842–1916) and Franklin MacVeagh (1837–1934) of Chicago, 1889 [2][a][b]; by descent to their son, Eames MacVeagh (1871–1958), Chicago; by inheritance to his wife, Zelie Antonette MacVeagh (née Barthélemy) (1887–1973), Washington, D.C. [3]; purchased in Washington, DC, by Sir Geoffrey William Gerald Agnew (1908–1986), Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, 1961 [4][c]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1999), 1962 [d]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1981.

Notes:
[1] The whereabouts of the painting prior to the acquisition by the MacVeaghs in 1889, is not certain. There are several labels extant on the stretcher bar and frame on the reverse of the painting. A torn handwritten label on the stretcher bar reads: "[N]o. 14. J. M. W. Turn[er] Coast Sc[ene]." A printed partially torn label from Thos. Agnew & Sons includes the stock number 22699. A printed label gives: "JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER, R. A. British: 1775–1851 50. The Storm. Height, 17 ½ in.; width, 25 inc. (See illustration)." A pink printed label reads: "OWNER MELLON, Mr. Paul ARTIST TURNER, J. M. W. TITLE Stormy Sea Breaking on Shore National Gallery of Art PM1031." There are also two printed labels from the Yale Center for British Art and British Studies, one with a handwritten note of "IR 27" and one with "#44 Seascape." A printed label with handwritten notations from the Department of Fine Arts at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, PA, titles the painting as "STORMY SEA BREAKING ON A SHORE" with "Paul Mellon (ANONYMOUS LOAN)" listed as the owner for an exhibition at the museum in 1965.

[2] Franklin MacVeagh, the 45th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, was also a prominent Chicago lawyer, banker, and politician. He married Emily Sherrill Eames in 1868. In a letter from Interlaken, Switzerland, dated August 1889, Emily wrote to her friend the writer Amelia Gere Mason (1831–1923), sharing details from the England portion of the family's European travels: "We bought two beautiful pictures, one a coast scene in oil by J.M.W. Turner—wasn’t that a find?" She also mentioned the family had spent three weeks in London, suggesting the purchase likely occurred there.

According to the Chicago Inter Ocean, the MacVeaghs departed for Europe on June 8, 1889, aboard the Cunard liner RMS Umbria, traveling from New York to Liverpool. The New York Herald reported their arrival in Europe by June 18. The Inter Ocean later recorded Emily and her son Emes returning from France to New York by October 9. On November 23, the paper also reported her import of nine cases of furniture, confirmed in her letter to Amelia—likely including the Turner painting. This timeline suggests the painting was probably acquired between mid-June and August 1889, before their stays in Switzerland and subsequently France, as mentioned in the same letter.

[3] Zelie Antonette (also spelled Zélie or Antoinette) Barthélemy married Eames MacVeagh in 1929. She was a prominent arts patron in Chicago and later in Washington, DC, where she spent her final years.

[4] Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll state that Sir Geoffrey Agnew purchased the painting in Washington, DC. This is where Zelie Antonette MacVeagh (née Bathélemy) (1887–1973) lived.

Citations:
[a] Amelia Gere Mason, Memories of a Friend (Chicago: Laurence C. Woodworth, 1918): 76-77.

[b] "Personal," Chicago Inter Ocean, June 9, 1889.

[c] Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1977): 263.

[d] Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The paintings of J.M.W. Turner, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1984, p. 284, 291, 293, no. 482, pl. 483