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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Autumn Tour of Northern France 1845 > Dieppe and Kent Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ruins at Richborough; Inscription by Turner: Calculations 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ruins at Richborough; Inscription by Turner: Calculations’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 102 Recto:
Ruins at Richborough; Inscription by Turner: Calculations 1845
D35671
Turner Bequest CCCLXI 102
Pencil on white wove paper, 86 x 111 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Richborough’ bottom centre, and with calculations (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘102’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXI – 102’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At the bottom is a study of the skyline of Roman ruins at Richborough Castle, near Sandwich in Kent; see under folio 95 recto (D35658) for others views.
The upper half is taken up with the following calculations, made with the page turned vertically and overlapping slightly with the drawing:
[?Sold] at 46
4,000 –
Bt of 66
Lots – [?s]
18
48
25
15
1 of 3
101 – 97
4 guin
The significance of these typically convoluted financial notes is unclear, although the last word evidently signifies guineas.
Technical notes:
There is some brown staining at the gutter, possibly indicating water damage in the 1928 Tate flood.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Ruins at Richborough; Inscription by Turner: Calculations 1845 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-ruins-at-richborough-inscription-by-turner-calculations-r1184086, accessed 25 April 2024.