Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Group of Figures ?with Parasols on a Beach

c.1826–40

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium: Chalk and gouache on paper
Dimensions: Support: 140 × 194 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D24630
Turner Bequest CCLIX 65

Catalogue entry

The main group comprises women in colourful dresses, apparently with parasols and accompanied by one or two men, probably observed on a beach or promenade (see the Introduction for other examples). The detail to the left is less clear, but may include a small child.

As discussed in the Introduction, this is one of the subjects of figures by the sea which Ian Warrell tentatively suggested as linked to Brighton around 1827, while noting that they could equally well show scenes in England or France on other occasions.1

See Warrell 1989, pp.120, 123 note 114.

Verso:

Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘54–68’ top left; inscribed in pencil ‘D.24630’ bottom left.

There is a border of white paper or tape, indicating that the sheet was formerly mounted.

Matthew Imms
December 2015

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