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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Farnley Hall and Yorkshire c.1808-24 > The Aqueduct Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Verses on 'Sweet Independence...' (Inscription by Turner) c.1816-18

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Verses on 'Sweet Independence...' (Inscription by Turner)’ c.1816-18
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Recto:
Verses on ‘Sweet Independence...’ (Inscription by Turner) c.1816–18
D11974
Turner Bequest CLII 1
Pencil and pen and ink on white wove paper, 180 x 117 mm
Watermarked ‘[WILL]MOTT | [18]12’
Inscribed (mainly illegibly) by Turner in pencil and ink with four six-line verses (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by an unknown hand in red ink ‘1’ lower right
Stamped in brown ‘CII 1’ lower right
These four six-line verses are mostly indecipherable. The first words of the first two lines are written in ink, the rest in pencil. Turner’s theme seems to be ‘Sweet Independence’ and a more developed and legible version is probably on the inside cover of the sketchbook, opposite (D40713); see catalogue entry for a transcription. Turner’s draft continues on the verso (D11975; Turner Bequest CLII 1a).

David Hill
September 2008

How to cite

David Hill, ‘Verses on ‘Sweet Independence...’ (Inscription by Turner) c.1816–18 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-verses-on-sweet-independence-inscription-by-turner-r1147001, accessed 26 April 2024.