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 Dark Interior or Curtained Bed c.1834-6

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Dark Interior or Curtained Bed’ c.1834-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 49 Verso:
?A Dark Interior or Curtained Bed c.1834–6
D28860
Turner Bequest CCXCI b 49a
Watercolour on white wove paper, 77 x 101 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
By comparison with other pages in this book, the loosely worked forms may represent a curtained bed, possibly with pale figures within its dark interior, while the yellow strokes on the left could be intended as hangings or furniture. The washes continue a little way onto folio 50 recto opposite (unaccessioned, its verso being D28861).
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 Dark Interior or 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-dark-interior-or-curtained-bed-r1149081, accessed 26 April 2024.