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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Liber Studiorum notes c.1807-19 > Liber Notes (2) Sketchbook [Finberg CLIV ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of a Cloudy Sky c.1808-18

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of a Cloudy Sky’ c.1808-18
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 77 Verso:
Study of a Cloudy Sky c.1808–18
D12237
Turner Bequest CLIV a 76a
Pencil on white wove paper, 89 x 112 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Blue with W [?Dra... Clou...]’ top right, ‘Reddish Brown’ at centre, ‘[?Ruby]’ below centre, and ‘opposite the Sun W NE – [?then brighter Light] | on the [?Ruby] [?dr... than] the windy [?dr...]’ towards bottom edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As set out under folio 7 verso (D12134), there are nearly thirty pages of cloud studies in this sketchbook, some, as here (inverted relative to the foliation), being annotated with colours and other observations. The last two words of Finberg’s attempted transcription, ‘Raby drag’ do not appear likely; Finberg was perhaps seeking a connection with Turner’s oil Raby Castle, the Seat of the Earl of Darlington (Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore), exhibited in 1818,1 and listed on folio 59 recto (D12204; CLIV a 58) – see also the extensive studies in the 1817 Raby sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest CLVI). The first word seems to be ‘Ruby’, also used as a note in the sky. The second, repeated later in Turner’s last line and possibly at the top right of the page, is elusive; although the words ‘drab’ and ‘grey’ appear on adjacent studies, it does not appear to be either.

Matthew Imms
September 2013

1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.101–2 no.136, pl.142 (colour).

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Study of a Cloudy Sky c.1808–18 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2013, 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-study-of-a-cloudy-sky-r1147655, accessed 24 April 2024.