Joseph Mallord William Turner

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, a curtained bed is indicated with what may be a figure reclining within with the head to the left; the marks at the right could indicate another figure, although these readings are open to interpretation.

For a discussion of the improvisatory and often erotic nature of the watercolour studies making up most of this sketchbook, see the Introduction.

Technical notes:

The unaccessioned recto is numbered in red ink ‘20’ and stamped ‘CCXCI(c) – 20’; it is blank apart from slight watercolour offsetting at the gutter and in general from folio 19 verso (D28900).