Joseph Mallord William Turner

Figures and Cottage; a Wild Rose, with Verses (Inscriptions by Turner)

1808

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Derbyshire Sketchbook
Medium: Ink and graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 185 × 108 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D07254
Turner Bequest CVI 89 a

Catalogue entry

This leaf is variously drawn on and inscribed. The cottage and figures are drawn in pencil on the left, with the sketchbook inverted. The rose is drawn in ink at upper right of centre. Among several separate inscriptions, written with the book turned upright, there is a passage of verse:

[in pencil]My honor reard and as thy smoke aspire
[in ink] But pity’s sullen eye is brightest seen
When
In yon eglantined cottage beside the lea
?Josephine lived as happy as happy could be
For rich in content she neer heeded being poor
And many a Winter & Autumn blesst the door

Those that work hardest get the least for it
Some that are idle live with the most show
Then live

There is also some arithmetic:

[in pencil]

9206   50     4 March    8
9207   50     30 July    8
9208   100    17 Sep     8

22
22

_______

    44
_______

    48
    48
     8
__________
5   109  4
__________

7    35   7
7    35   7
7    35   7
7    35   7
7    35   7
7    35   7
7    35   7
     35   7
25   35   7
15   35   7
75   35   7
___
105

Explore

nature(45,213)
- plants and flowers(2,727)
- - rose(126)
symbols and personifications(7,212)
- inscriptions(6,720)
- - artist’s notes(1,557)