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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Thames, London and South of England 1821 ... > River Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study for a Hilly Classical Landscape Subject with Figures c.1823-4

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for a Hilly Classical Landscape Subject with Figures’ c.1823-4
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Recto:
Study for a Hilly Classical Landscape Subject with Figures c.1823–4
D17778
Turner Bequest CCIV 4
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 190 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘4’ bottom right (now very faint)
Stamped in black ‘CCIV – 4’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch shows a deep valley with craggy, wooded hills. In the distance on the right are a classical portico, a high bridge or aqueduct, and a town or ruins on the skyline – all elements familiar elements in the repertoire of Turner’s classical landscape paintings. In the foreground are several animated figures around what seems to be a low, arched structure, but the subject is as yet unidentified. There are several sketches of this kind between folios 1 verso (D17774), under which the sequence is discussed, and 7 verso (D17782).
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
November 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Study for a Hilly Classical Landscape Subject with Figures c.1823–4 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-study-for-a-hilly-classical-landscape-subject-with-figures-r1172486, accessed 26 April 2024.