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 ... > Old London Bridge Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Landscape with a Sign-Board and Figures c.1823-4

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Landscape with a Sign-Board and Figures’ c.1823-4
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 29 Recto:
A Landscape with a Sign-Board and Figures c.1823–4
D17885
Turner Bequest CCV 29
Watercolour and pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 162 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘29’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCV – 29’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The object on the left is perhaps the sign-board of a rural inn. Like the figures on the right it is presented contre-jour against a bright sky above an elemental landscape. A diagonal sunbeam is suggested at the top centre. This is one of a sequence of fourteen monochrome, tonal studies of landscapes and cloudy skies running from about the middle of the sketchbook onwards; for the others and further discussion, see the Introduction. Unlike others in this sequence, in this case there is a slight underlying pencil structure to the composition.
Verso:
Blank, save for a very slight continuation of watercolour from folio 30 recto (D17886).

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Landscape with a Sign-Board and Figures c.1823–4 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 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-a-landscape-with-a-sign-board-and-figures-r1172598, accessed 18 September 2024.