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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Nude Studies and Erotica c.1805-24 > Academy Auditing Sketchbook [Finberg ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Satyr Approaching a Naked Woman c.1810

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Satyr Approaching a Naked Woman’ c.1810
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 36 Recto:
A Satyr Approaching a Naked Woman circa 1810
D18515
Turner Bequest CCX a 34
Pencil on white laid writing paper, 115 x 187 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘34’ bottom right (now very faint)
Stamped in black ‘CCX(a) – 34’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As discussed in the introduction, most of the drawings in this book are rapid figure studies, many of which are erotic; others may be similar in intent, but are difficult to make out, and may be of classical or biblical subjects. This is one of the most explicit, at least as far as the figure of the male satyr or faun goes, as he reaches towards a naked woman turned from him. There appear to be more nymphs and satyrs on folio 29 recto and 30 recto (D18508, D18509; CCX a 27, 28), and on folio 35 recto (D18514; CCX a 33).
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
January 2012

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Satyr Approaching a Naked Woman c.1810 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-satyr-approaching-a-naked-woman-r1184386, accessed 23 April 2024.