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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Farnley Hall and Yorkshire c.1808-24 > Colour Studies for Subjects Commissioned ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study for 'Rokeby' 1822

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for 'Rokeby'’ 1822
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Study for ‘Rokeby’ 1822
D25409
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 286
Watercolour on white wove paper, 174 x 249 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘286’ bottom right (faded)
Inscribed in pencil ‘CCLXIII’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 286’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of four loose ‘colour beginnings’ related to the 1822 watercolour Rokeby (The Higgins, Bedford),1 showing a rocky, wooded ravine on the River Greta (see also Tate D25371, D25408 and D25411; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 249, 285, 288). This connection was established by Eric Shanes;2 see under D25371 for discussion of the circumstances, subject and composition of the finished design.
Only this variation of the four employs a horizontal format rather than the upright arrangement seen in the completed work; nevertheless, if the left-hand half is disregarded, the similarity is immediately clear. Eric Shanes has compared the setting to that of the secluded scene in the mid-1810s watercolour A Rocky Pool, with a Heron and a Kingfisher,3 traditionally known as ‘A Lonely Dell, Wharfedale’ (Leeds Museums and Art Galleries).4
1
Wilton 1979, p.424 no.1053, reproduced.
2
See Shanes 1997, pp.16–17, 30, 84–6, 97, 99, 101; see also Joll 2002, p.272, House 2006, p.12, and House 2013, p.31.
3
See Shanes 1997, p.84.
4
Wilton 1979, p.362 no.542, reproduced).
Verso:
Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘69 | b’ right of centre; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCLXIII – 286’ towards bottom left; inscribed in pencil ‘D.25409’ bottom left.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Study for ‘Rokeby’ 1822 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-study-for-rokeby-r1183674, accessed 26 April 2024.