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 > River Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) c.1807-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Verses (Inscriptions by Turner)’ c.1807-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 76 Recto:
Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) circa 1807–8
D06067
Turner Bequest XCVI 74
Inscribed by Turner in pencil (see main catalogue entry) on white laid paper, 163 x 92 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘74’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XCVI 74’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
See note to folio 68 of the sketchbook (D06053) for background to these verses. Rosalind Mallord Turner’s reading published in the 1990 Tate catalogue is adopted here, with significant variations noted in square brackets:
And living on the Bank of Thames
delighted
Expanding charmed to his tender hope
The thankful country whose altar Pope
The mansion honor on far Twickenham pride
The Grotto to chant the far trees to save
... or in silver stream
To me the Grott – the grave
alas our view the fatal hour [is] nigh
when the torment must meet the eye
Unclean hands in deep recess to lie
The cause of all my [?] woe
for whence my tears infin[ite] flow
could not one man tho favord ill [thy worth]
[?Evince] for Ostentation
Taste unheeded draws hea[r]t here
but – usurps her heavenly veil
and to the vulgar labour ap[p]ear [wealth inserted]
Each think the [Jewel inserted ? contentment deleted]
Centered in himself
No not one to love of ... none
but sordid self
deaf to the names of the illustrious dead
yet oer this page some earnd
As well as Alexander Pope’s villa at Twickenham, Turner refers to the grotto in its gardens, their most famous feature.

David Blayney Brown
October 2006

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) c.1807–8 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2006, 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-verses-inscriptions-by-turner-r1130245, accessed 27 April 2024.