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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Erotica and Improvisations c.1834-6 > Colour Studies (2) Sketchbook [Finberg ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?A Curtained Bed, with a Woman Climbing In c.1834-6

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Curtained Bed, with a Woman Climbing In’ c.1834-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 42 Recto:
?A Curtained Bed, with a Woman Climbing In c.1834–6
D28946
Turner Bequest CCXCI c 42
Watercolour on white wove paper, 79 x 101 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘42’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCXCI(c) – 42’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, a woman is shown with her knee raised high, apparently climbing into the dark interior of a curtained bed, as seen on so many other pages in this book. The light illuminating her from behind is evoked by rubbing or scratching out of the mid-grey wash.
For a discussion of the improvisatory and often erotic nature of the watercolour studies making up most of this sketchbook, see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
May 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?A Curtained Bed, with a Woman Climbing In c.1834–6 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2014, 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-a-curtained-bed-with-a-woman-climbing-in-r1149017, accessed 21 September 2024.