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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Work for Earls Egremont and Lonsdale ... > Lowther Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Figure Sketches: Fishermen by a River, and Other Figures 1809

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Figure Sketches: Fishermen by a River, and Other Figures’ 1809
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 16 Recto:
Two Figure Sketches: Fishermen by a River, and Other Figures 1809
D07878
Turner Bequest CXIII 16
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 83 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘W’, ‘WF’, ‘Red Br W’ within the upper sketch, ‘W’ below the lower one; between the two there is a further illegible inscription
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘16’ top left, running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXIII 16’ top left, running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
There are two separate sketches here, both very slight. At the top of the leaf, perhaps five men are beside a river, the one on the left standing and the others seated, the one on the right with fishing rod. Below, perhaps three figures are seated, one standing but stooping. In both subjects there are hints of a surrounding landscape. Turner’s notations are mainly of colour.

David Blayney Brown
July 2009

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Two Figure Sketches: Fishermen by a River, and Other Figures 1809 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 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-two-figure-sketches-fishermen-by-a-river-and-other-figures-r1135833, accessed 25 April 2024.