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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Brighton and Copies from Wilson 1796-7 > Drawings Related to the 'Studies near ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The King's Theatre, Haymarket, London: The Interior Seen from the Gallery c.1796

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The King's Theatre, Haymarket, London: The Interior Seen from the Gallery’ c.1796
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
The King’s Theatre, Haymarket, London: The Interior Seen from the Gallery c.1796
D01899
Turner Bequest XLIV W
Pencil on white wove paper, 245 x 384 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘L’, ‘C’ and ‘B’ within the drawing at left, ‘B’ and ‘B’ centre on the boxes, and ‘[...]’ top centre
Stamped in black ‘XLIV – W’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg identified the theatre as Covent Garden, but this is in fact the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, built to designs by Michael Novocielski in 1791; these were modified by Mariani in 1796, and Turner’s drawing seems to record the interior prior to that date. It had a seating capacity of 4,000.1 Turner’s interest in the London theatres is well attested, and it has been suggested that one of his early posts was assistant scene painter at the Pantheon in Oxford Street (see Tate D00121; Turner Bequest IX A).
1
See Iain Mackintosh and Geoffrey Ashton, The Georgian Playhouse, exhibition catalogue, Hayward Gallery, London 1975.
Technical notes:
The sheet has been folded vertically at the centre.
Verso:
Blank

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘The King’s Theatre, Haymarket, London: The Interior Seen from the Gallery c.1796 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-kings-theatre-haymarket-london-the-interior-seen-from-r1149806, accessed 19 April 2024.