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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Oxford c.1787-91 > Oxford and Other Subjects > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Cottage Interior by Firelight c.1790-1

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Cottage Interior by Firelight’ c.1790-1
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Cottage Interior by Firelight c.1790–1
D00187
Turner Bequest XVII L
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 240 x 323 mm laid on original washline mount (cut down all round), 254 x 330 mm
Stamped in black ‘XVII – L’ bottom right
Inscribed in pencil ‘XVII L.’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
A finished work, probably intended as an imitation of contemporary rustic subjects by, e.g., Francis Wheatley (1747–1801) and Richard Westall (1765–1836). In choosing a firelit interior with large-scale figures Turner consciously set out to extend his technical range. The treatment of the flame-lit chimney bricks anticipates his studies of sunlit masonry in the ruins of the Oxford Street Pantheon of early 1792; see Tate D00122 (Turner Bequest IX B).
Verso:
Blank; some paint blots; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Cottage Interior by Firelight c.1790–1 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-cottage-interior-by-firelight-r1140100, accessed 19 April 2024.