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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > London and Home Counties 1793-5 > Studies of Figures and Fairground ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of Masonry; a Group of Figures Crouching on the Ground ?1794

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of Masonry; a Group of Figures Crouching on the Ground’ ?1794
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Study of Masonry; a Group of Figures Crouching on the Ground ?1794
D00711
Turner Bequest XXIX F
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 256 x 182 mm
Watermark ‘J WHATMAN’
Inscribed in pencil ‘XXIX F’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘XXIX F’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The pencil study of figures on one half of this centrally folded sheet – made with the sheet turned vertically – may be related to studies in the Marford Mill sketchbook (Tate D00303, D00308; Turner Bequest XX 31, 34). The study of masonry in the other half – made with the sheet turned horizontally – is reminiscent of the copies that Turner made after Michael Angelo Rooker (1746–1801) in 1792 (Tate D00192, D00193; Turner Bequest XVII Q, R); this detail does not appear to be copied from another artist’s drawing.
Technical notes:
The colour trials on the half of the sheet with the masonry study lie alongside the central crease, indicating that the sheet was already folded when they were made.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Study of Masonry; a Group of Figures Crouching on the Ground ?1794 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-study-of-masonry-a-group-of-figures-crouching-on-the-ground-r1140240, accessed 26 April 2024.