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 Composition Study for a Picture of 'The Death of Adonis' c.1802-5

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Composition Study for a Picture of 'The Death of Adonis'’ c.1802-5
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 27 Verso:
Composition Study for a Picture of ‘The Death of Adonis’ c.1802–5
D04954
Turner Bequest LXXXI 52
Black and white chalks on blue laid paper, 436 x 271 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ and ‘VI’
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Death of Adonis’ towards bottom centre, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–52’ top right, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation within a black chalk border to the left and below, this is a more elaborately worked out study for the picture that Turner planned on folio 25 verso (D04950; Turner Bequest LXXXI 48) as a possible alternative to ‘The Parting of Venus and Adonis’, which has its own study on folio 26 verso (D04952; Turner Bequest LXXXI 50). He never painted a large treatment of the death scene, though a small oil sketch exists (Tate N05493),1 showing the two figures in quite different attitudes, and with only the boles of the trees visible.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

1
Butlin and Joll 1984, p.115 no.151, pl.157.

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Composition Study for a Picture of ‘The Death of Adonis’ c.1802–5 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-composition-study-for-a-picture-of-the-death-of-adonis-r1178158, accessed 24 April 2024.