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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Thames sketchbooks c.1804-14 > Hesperides (2) Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner 'Dryope' 1805

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘'Dryope'’ 1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 16 Recto:
‘Dryope’ 1805
D05868
Turner Bequest XCIV 16
Pen and ink and brown wash on white wove paper, prepared with a grey wash, 143 x 228 mm
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Dryope’ bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘16’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XCIV 16’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
By a woodland pool, the nymph Dryope stoops to pick a flower, as described in Book 9 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. For Ovid subjects in this sketchbook see note to folio 13 (D05865). In the poem the episode shown here follows closely from the story of Hercules, terminating in his slaughter of Lichas depicted on folio 15 (D05867) and his own ensuing death. Dryope, who has been violated by Apollo, picks a flower for her son unaware that it is the chaste nymph Lotis, who has been changed into a flower while fighting off the attentions of Priapus. As punishment, Dryope will herself be transformed into a tree.
Verso:
Blank save for some splashes of ink or wash and green watercolour

David Blayney Brown
December 2007

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘‘Dryope’ 1805 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2007, 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-dryope-r1130091, accessed 24 April 2024.