Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Cow Lying Down and the Head of a Cow in Profile

c.1807–14

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Finance Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 69 × 112 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D08291
Turner Bequest CXXII 6

Catalogue entry

A cow (or perhaps a calf) occupies the middle of the page, seen from the side lying down with its head turned towards the artist. The head and neck of the same or a similar animal in profile appear above on a slightly larger scale, almost overlapping with the back of the central study. There is a related sketch, showing a head and front quarters, on folio 7 recto (D08293). Ian Warrell has remarked upon the ‘remarkable frequency’ of such studies in Turner’s early sketchbooks.1

Matthew Imms
September 2013

Ian Warrell in Warrell, Blandine Chavanne and Michael Kitson, Turner et le Lorrain, exhibition catalogue, Musée des beaux-arts, Nancy 2002, p.186, listing numerous examples.

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