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 > Fishing at the Weir Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Group of Men and Women, Perhaps at a Fish Market c.1834-6

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Group of Men and Women, Perhaps at a Fish Market’ c.1834-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Verso:
A Group of Men and Women, Perhaps at a Fish Market c.1834–6
D27743
Turner Bequest CCLXXXI 10a
Pencil on white wove paper, 79 x 101 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this swift sketch of perhaps seven or eight men and women catches characteristic details of their headgear and movements. One figure sits at the left with a barrel or basket, while another stoops at the right. The scene may be a fish market on a beach, as shown on folio 11 verso (D27744), where inscriptions identify the subject. There are various such subjects and coastal views in the sketchbook, particularly towards the end, as set out in the Introduction; compare folios 29 verso and 31 verso (D27778, D27783).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Group of Men and Women, Perhaps at a Fish Market c.1834–6 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-group-of-men-and-women-perhaps-at-a-fish-market-r1149107, accessed 26 April 2024.