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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Perspective lectures c.1809-28 > II. Various Perspective Diagrams > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Lecture Diagram: Method for Finding the Diameter of the Earth c.1817-28

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lecture Diagram: Method for Finding the Diameter of the Earth’ c.1817-28
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Lecture Diagram: Method for Finding the Diameter of the Earth circa 1817–28
D17146
Turner Bequest CXCV 175
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 490 x 695 mm
Watermarked ‘J WHATMAN | TURKEY MILLS | 1817’
Inscribed by Turner in red watercolour over pencil various initial letters within diagram Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘175’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Made in connection with Turner’s lectures as Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy, this diagram is related to a sketch in a manuscript used for lecturing on geometry.1 There, Turner describes a method for finding ‘the diameter of the earth’ in order to discuss ‘a natural kind of trigonometry of vision’.
1
Turner, ‘Royal Academy Lectures’, circa 1807–38, Department of Western Manuscripts, British Library, London, ADD MS 46151 X folio 29.
Technical notes:
Peter Bower (unpublished notes)1 writes that the sheet is Super Royal size Whatman paper made by Finch and Thomas Robert Hollingworth, at Turkey Mill, Maidstone, Kent.
1
Notes in Tate catalogue files.
Verso:
Blank, save for an inscription by an unknown hand in pencil ‘168’ bottom left.

Andrea Fredericksen
January 2004

Supported by The Samuel H. Kress Foundation

Revised by David Blayney Brown
January 2012

How to cite

Andrea Fredericksen, ‘Lecture Diagram: Method for Finding the Diameter of the Earth c.1817–28 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2004, revised by David Blayney Brown, 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-lecture-diagram-method-for-finding-the-diameter-of-the-earth-r1136786, accessed 20 September 2024.