'Study for 'The Vision', for Rogers's 'Poems'', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Study for 'The Vision', for Rogers's 'Poems'

From Watercolours Related to Samuel Rogers's Poems

Date c.1830-2

MediumGraphite and watercolour on paper

Dimensionssupport: 245 x 310 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Reference

D27721

Turner Bequest CCLXXX 204

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Study for ‘The Vision’, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ circa 1830–2

D27721
Turner Bequest CCLXXX 204

Pencil and watercolour, approximately 120 x 115 mm on white wove paper, 196 x 296 mm
Inscribed by unknown hands in pencil ‘237’ top right, ascending vertically and ‘CCLXXX – 204’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXX 204’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Exhibition history

References

This is an experimental colour study for the finished watercolour The Vision, one of seven illustrations which Turner designed for the ‘The Voyage of Columbus’, the final work in Rogers’s Poems (see Tate D27714; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 197). The rough watercolour sketch shows the dark outlines of Columbus’s three ships sailing on a calm sea, set against a fiery red sky. At the top of the composition, Turner has added in pencil a row of shield-bearing warrior figures. This is probably an early design for the vignette. Comparison with the final scene demonstrates that his concept developed considerably.

Turner produced an additional colour study for The Vision (see Tate D27720; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 203), as well as a compositional pencil drawing of the final design (see Tate D40175).

Verso:

Inscribed by unknown hands in pencil ‘No Guard’ top centre and ‘32 | b’ centre, and ‘~~2^nd part of~~ CCLXXX 204 – ~~204~~ / (~~In 2 parts~~)’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXX 204’ lower centre right

Meredith Gamer
August 2006

Read this catalogue entry in full

This catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012.