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 and Margate Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Figure(s) 1805-9

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Figure(s)’ 1805-9
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 58 Verso:
?Figure(s) 1805–9
D40599
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 115 x 190 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
A slight pencil sketch here, of a figure subject, seems to have been deliberately smudged or erased. It appears to be of a young woman, naked but for shoes and with her legs spread. It was not noticed or numbered by Finberg and was first published by Warrell, with the suggestion that it might represent a sexual fantasy or a casual encounter of Turner’s at Margate.

David Blayney Brown
March 2009

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘?Figure(s) 1805–9 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2009, 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-r1130646, accessed 18 April 2024.