Joseph Mallord William TurnerDiagram and Notes on Perspective (Inscriptions by Turner) 1809

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Artwork details

Artist
Title
Diagram and Notes on Perspective (Inscriptions by Turner)
From Frittlewell Sketchbook
Turner Bequest CXII
Date 1809
MediumPen and ink on paper
Dimensionssupport: 180 x 107 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D07835
Turner Bequest CXII 77 a
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Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 77 Verso:
Diagram and Notes on Perspective (Inscriptions by Turner) 1809
D07835
Turner Bequest CXII 77a
Pen and ink on white wove paper, 180 x 107 mm
Inscribed by Turner in ink (see main catalogue entry)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These notes predominantly in French but with interventions in English are not transcribed here in view of Turner’s imperfect French and transliteration. Together with the diagram below them on this leaf they are taken from Jan (Hans) Vredeman de Vries, Perspective, part 2, Leyden 1605, preface and pl.18. Turner usually used the British Museum’s library for such works; in this instance his likely source is now in the British Library. Vredeman de Vries (1527–circa 1607) was most notable for his assertion that the basic principle of perspective is the existence of vanishing points on which all lines converge, as demonstrated in the diagram where they join at a point on the horizon line
Below the drawing, Turner has written ‘by crossing the work square it makes almost ... | thing possible’.

David Blayney Brown
June 2009

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