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 (1) Sketchbook [Finberg ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?A Bedroom, with a Figure or Figures in a Curtained Bed c.1834-6

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Bedroom, with a Figure or Figures in a Curtained Bed’ c.1834-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 8 Recto:
?A Bedroom, with a Figure or Figures in a Curtained Bed c.1834–6
D28798
Turner Bequest CCXCI b 8
Watercolour on white wove paper, 77 x 101 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘8’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXCI(b) – 8’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The white shapes left by the bare paper at the centre are possibly pale figures in the shadowy space between bed curtains, suggested by the darker vertical strokes at each side. Further strokes to the left and below may indicate bedroom furniture and a carpet.
For a discussion of the improvisatory and often erotic nature of the watercolour studies making up most of this sketchbook, see the Introduction.
Verso:
Blank, save for slight offsetting of watercolour from folio 9 recto opposite (D28799).

Matthew Imms
May 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?A Bedroom, with a Figure or Figures in a Curtained Bed 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-bedroom-with-a-figure-or-figures-in-a-curtained-bed-r1149028, accessed 25 April 2024.