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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales 1798 > North Wales Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Group of Children Playing 1798

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Group of Children Playing’ 1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 39 Verso:
A Group of Children Playing 1798
D41259
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 170 x 266 mm
Stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram centre left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This rapid sketch, made with the page turned horizontally, shows children engaged in boisterous games; it is executed in an uncharacteristically staccato manner, evidently intended simply to record a scene that amused Turner, perhaps witnessed in the street at Shrewsbury (see folio 38 recto; D01392; Turner Bequest XXXIX 37), or Bromfield (on the recto of this leaf, D01455).
Technical notes:
There is a smear of grey-blue paint at the top centre.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Group of Children Playing 1798 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, 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-group-of-children-playing-r1173623, accessed 25 April 2024.