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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Vignette watercolours c.1826-1843 > Watercolours Related to Thomas Moore ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study for 'The Chaplet' for Moore's 'The Epicurean' c.1837-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for 'The Chaplet' for Moore's 'The Epicurean'’ c.1837-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Study for ‘The Chaplet’ for Moore’s ‘The Epicurean’ circa 1837–8
D27642
Turner Bequest CCLXXX 125
Pencil and watercolour, approximately 140 x 80 mm on board, 237 x 160 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘125’ bottom right
Inscribed by an unknown hand in pencil ‘CCLXXX’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXX 125’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch belongs to a large group of preliminary studies which relate to Turner’s vignette illustrations for John Macrone’s 1839 edition of Thomas Moore’s The Epicurean, a Tale: and Alciphron, a Poem. The study shares the same size, palette, and style as nine other works in this group, suggesting that Turner produced them all at around the same time (see Tate D27630; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 113).
Jan Piggott has identified the subject as an experimental study for The Chaplet, circa 1838 (untraced),1 one of four vignettes that Turner produced for Moore’s fantastical prose tale The Epicurean.2 The finished watercolour was engraved for publication by Edward Goodall.3 This study bears a considerable resemblance to the final version which shows Alethe, a pagan priestess turned fervent Christian, standing trial for heresy. Turner illustrates her just as she is about to receive her punishment, a deadly, poisoned coral chaplet that has been prepared for her by the evil Orcus, the High Priest of Memphis. Many of the same elements, including the high ceilinged hall, the presence of female and animal spirits, and the serpent in the foreground, are present in both preparatory and final versions.
There are at least three additional studies for The Chaplet in the Turner Bequest (see Tate D27634, D27644, D27655; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 117, 127, 138).
1
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, p.456, no.1301.
2
Piggott 1993, p.96; Thomas Moore, The Epicurean, a Tale: and Alciphron, a Poem, London 1839, reproduced between pp.206–7.
3
W.G. Rawlinson, The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., vol.II, London 1913, no.637. There is one impression in Tate’s collection (T06625).
Verso:
Inscribed by an unknown hand in pencil ‘AB 82 P | M’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge

Meredith Gamer
August 2006

How to cite

Meredith Gamer, ‘Study for ‘The Chaplet’ for Moore’s ‘The Epicurean’ c.1837–8 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 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-study-for-the-chaplet-for-moores-the-epicurean-r1133841, accessed 26 April 2024.