J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Figures and Cottage; a Wild Rose, with Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) 1808

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 92 Verso:
Figures and Cottage; a Wild Rose, with Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) 1808
D07254
Turner Bequest CVI 89a
Pencil and ink on white wove paper, 185 x 108 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil and ink (see main catalogue entry)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This leaf is variously drawn on and inscribed. The cottage and figures are drawn in pencil on the left, with the sketchbook inverted. The rose is drawn in ink at upper right of centre. Among several separate inscriptions, written with the book turned upright, there is a passage of verse:
[in pencil]My honor reard and as thy smoke aspire
[in ink] But pity’s sullen eye is brightest seen
When
In yon eglantined cottage beside the lea
?Josephine lived as happy as happy could be
For rich in content she neer heeded being poor
And many a Winter & Autumn blesst the door
Those that work hardest get the least for it
Some that are idle live with the most show
Then live
There is also some arithmetic:
[in pencil]
9206   50     4 March    8 
9207   50     30 July    8 
9208   100    17 Sep     8 
 
    22 
    22 
_______
    44 
_______ 
 
    48 
    48 
     8 
__________ 
5   109  4 
__________ 
7    35   7 
7    35   7 
7    35   7 
7    35   7 
7    35   7 
7    35   7 
7    35   7 
     35   7 
25   35   7 
15   35   7 
75   35   7 
___ 
105 
See also inside back cover

David Blayney Brown
July 2010

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Figures and Cottage; a Wild Rose, with Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) 1808 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-figures-and-cottage-a-wild-rose-with-verses-inscriptions-by-r1129678, accessed 29 March 2024.