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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Royal Academy c.1789-99 > Anatomical Studies > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Half-length Écorché Figure ?1789-90

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Half-length Écorché Figure’ ?1789-90
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Half-length Écorché Figure ?1789–90
D00125
Turner Bequest X B
Pencil on white laid paper, 306 x 243 mm
Stamped in black ‘X B’ towards bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This flayed torso is posed in contrapposto, the arms as though holding a staff. It is more crudely drawn, and thus probably earlier in date, than the single other écorché figure in the Bequest (Tate D00124; Turner Bequest X A).
Technical notes:
The support is corrected white laid writing paper, with a rectangular piece cut from the lower right edge.
Verso:
Blank, apart from some grey and black washes (from another drawing?); stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Half-length Écorché Figure ?1789–90 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-half-length-corche-figure-r1140307, accessed 24 April 2024.