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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Farnley Chest 1821

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 40 Verso:
The Farnley Chest 1821
D18588
Turner Bequest CCXI 40a
Pencil on white wove paper, 189 x 113 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘3 feet’ upper right running vertically, ‘1 6’ and ‘2 6 door’ centre, and ‘69 stones’ bottom left running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the sketchbook turned to the left are two diagrams (perhaps the front and back) of a chest at Farnley Hall, one of several studies of this item of furniture, including two very similar sketches on the opposite page: folio 41 (Tate 18589; Turner Bequest CCXI 41). For further references see folio 6 (Tate D18533; Turner Bequest CCXI 6).
Turner’s inscriptions indicate that the chest is ‘3 feet’ high, while the doors are each ‘1 [foot] 6 [inches]’ wide and ‘2 [feet] 6 [inches]’ high. The inscription ‘69 stones’ at the bottom left of the page may refer to the row of circles that form a band of ornamentation above the doors of the chest of which Turner has drawn only a part.

Thomas Ardill
March 2013

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘The Farnley Chest 1821 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-farnley-chest-r1146282, accessed 28 March 2024.