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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > History Painting c.1799-1807 > Calais Pier Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Group of Figures c.1799-1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Group of Figures’ c.1799-1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 18 Recto:
A Group of Figures c.1799–1805
D04936
Turner Bequest LXXXI 35
Black chalk on blue laid paper, 436 x 271 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ and Strasburg lily
Inscribed in pencil ‘35’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–35’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this sketch is so slight and faint that it has the appearance of an off–print from the figure group on folio 17 verso opposite (D04935; Turner Bequest LXXXI 34), but it is evidently a separate study. In so far as it is intelligible, it seems to be a further idea for an Adoration of the Shepherds.
Technical notes:
There is a partial offset from folio 17 verso opposite (D04935; Turner Bequest LXXXI 34).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Group of Figures c.1799–1805 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 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-group-of-figures-r1178140, accessed 20 September 2024.