Joseph Mallord William Turner

For a discussion of the improvisatory and often erotic nature of the watercolour studies making up most of this sketchbook, see the Introduction. Many appear to show dark interiors and beds with figures, but among them are a few with a greater sense of openness and even landscape forms, as here, where the dark shapes which might otherwise have developed into bed curtains suggest rough vegetation, perhaps rushes or trees, beneath a blue sky; compare folios 13 recto (possibly evoking a river scene with rushes), and folios 50 verso, 51 verso and 52 verso (D28804, D28861, D28863, D28865). There are also some landscape studies in pencil towards the end of the book (see the Introduction).

Verso:

Blank, save for offsetting of watercolour from folio 12 recto opposite (D28803).