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 Recumbent and Semi-Recumbent Figures, and Horses c.1799-1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Group of Recumbent and Semi-Recumbent Figures, and Horses’ c.1799-1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 82 Recto:
A Group of Recumbent and Semi–Recumbent Figures, and Horses c.1799–1805
D05063
Turner Bequest LXXXI 161
Pencil and white chalk on blue laid paper, 271 x 436 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ and Strasburg lily
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘161’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–161’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, this is probably a study for one of Turner’s Biblical Egyptian ‘Plague’ subjects, or the lost 1801 painting of The Army of the Medes Destroyed in the Desert by a Whirlwind;1 there is an identified drawing for that picture on folio 84 recto (D05067; Turner Bequest LXXXI 165).
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.13–15 no.15.
Technical notes:
There is offsetting from folio 81 verso opposite (D05062; Turner Bequest LXXXI 160).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Group of Recumbent and Semi–Recumbent Figures, and Horses 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-recumbent-and-semi-recumbent-figures-and-horses-r1178267, accessed 18 April 2024.