Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Classical Head; Buildings

?1797

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
None
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D41458
Turner Bequest XXXII A v

Catalogue entry

These two slight drawings, not mentioned in Finberg’s 1909 Turner Bequest catalogue,1 are in a controlled Neo-classical style unlike Turner’s usual manner. However, they are probably his work rather than that of a pupil, and may relate to the studies of classical heads and other subjects that he occasionally made at this period. Compare for instance the helmeted heads on Tate D00721 (Turner Bequest XXIX P), and for the technique the head (apparently of Christ) on Tate D41450 (Turner Bequest CCCLXXIX 3 v).
The recto is D00857 (Turner Bequest XXXII A).

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

1
See A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.64.

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Left Right

In the shop

Browse the shop