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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Sandycombe Lodge c.1808-12 > Windmill and Lock Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Parts of a Building or Buildings including Carlton House, London c.1808-11

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Parts of a Building or Buildings including Carlton House, London’ c.1808-11
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 16 Recto:
Parts of a Building or Buildings including Carlton House, London circa 1808–11
D07984
Turner Bequest CXIV 16
Pencil on white wove paper, 87 x 117 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?6P]’ top left, ‘2’ centre left and ‘6’ towards top centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘16’ bottom right (smudged)
Stamped in black ‘CXIV – 16’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The outline to the right of centre, a pediment with a pedestal at its apex, appears to indicate Carlton House, London. The upper part of a column annotated ‘6’ may be one of those supporting its portico, which is shown in another sketch on folio 15 verso opposite (D07983). The significance of the other details is less clear, and they may be taken from other buildings.
Carlton House appears in a large watercolour diagram which accompanied Turner’s first perspective lecture at the Royal Academy in January 1811 (see the Introduction to the sketchbook), showing the whole of the north front with rusticated wings and a colonnaded screen and gateways in front, in which Turner combined a scale elevation with naturalistic shading (Tate D17119; Turner Bequest CXCV 148).1 There are further studies of Carlton House on folios 49 verso–50 recto, 61 verso (D08023, D08024, D08039) and possibly 39 recto (D08011). For the history of the building, see under folio 15 verso.
1
Ibid., pp.31, 33.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
January 2012

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Parts of a Building or Buildings including Carlton House, London c.1808–11 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2012, 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-parts-of-a-building-or-buildings-including-carlton-house-r1134760, accessed 24 April 2024.