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 A Diagram Indicating Perspective, Light or Reflections c.1808-11

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Diagram Indicating Perspective, Light or Reflections’ c.1808-11
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 20 Verso:
A Diagram Indicating Perspective, Light or Reflections circa 1808–11
D07990
Turner Bequest CXIV 20a
Pencil on white wove paper, 87 x 115 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Maurice Davies has listed the studies here and on folios 21 recto opposite and 21 verso (D07991, D07992) as ‘Perspective or reflective constructions’1 in relation to the preparations for Turner’s perspective lectures, delivered at the Royal Academy from January 1811 onwards (see the Introduction to the sketchbook). The three diagrams grow progressively more complex.
1
Davies 1994, p.290.
Technical notes:
The left-hand (outer) edge of the page is irregular, and appears to be the untrimmed edge of the larger sheet folded to form this and adjacent leaves. At its widest at the top, the leaf is about 2 mm narrower than the usual 117 mm of the regularly trimmed leaves comprising the rest of the sketchbook. The bottom left corner is missing to the extent of about 5 x 5 mm, though again this appears due to the irregularity of the sheet rather than subsequent loss. Folio 43 (D08015) has a similarly irregular edge, as does folio 64 (D08043).

Matthew Imms
January 2012

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Diagram Indicating Perspective, Light or Reflections 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-a-diagram-indicating-perspective-light-or-reflections-r1134766, accessed 18 April 2024.