Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Curtained Bed, with the Naked Legs of a Reclining Woman

c.1834–6

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Colour Studies (1) Sketchbook [Finberg CCXCI (b)]
Medium
Watercolour and chalk on paper
Dimensions
Support: 77 × 101 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D28795
Turner Bequest CCXCI b 5

Catalogue entry

The pale shapes revealed here beyond the red bed curtains1 appear to be the naked lower legs of a woman, drawn up with the knees parted and the ankles crossed; their contours are lightly emphasised in red, but the rest of the figure is undefined.
For a discussion of the improvisatory and often erotic nature of the watercolour studies making up most of this sketchbook, see the Introduction.
1
See Rosenberg 2007, pp.117, 327 note 22.
Verso:
Blank, save for offsetting of watercolour from folio 6 recto opposite (D28796).

Matthew Imms
May 2014

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