Joseph Mallord William Turner

Self-Portrait

c.1799

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

License this image

In Tate Britain

Turner Collection: Turner Exhibited: Ambition and Reputation

Free entry
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
Support: 743 x 584 mm
frame: 985 x 820 x 110 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
N00458

Display caption

This self-portrait appears to date from around 1799 when Turner was about twenty-four years old. It was possibly intended to mark an important moment in his career, his election as an Associate of the Royal Academy. Despite his relative youth, Turner had already made a name for himself as an original, accomplished painter with the technical abilities of someone more mature. He had been described in the newspapers as an artist who ‘seems thoroughly to understand the mode of adjusting and applying his various materials’ and ‘their effect in oil or on paper is equally sublime’.

Gallery label, February 2010

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Catalogue entry

25. [N00458] Self-Portrait c. 1798

THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (458)
Canvas, 29 1/4 ×23 (74·5 ×58·5)

Coll. Turner Bequest 1856 (92, ‘Portrait of J.M.W. Turner’ 2'5" × 1'11"); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1910.

Exh. National Portrait Exhibition 1868 (94); Tate Gallery 1931 (13); Venice and Rome 1948 (1, repr.); R.A. 1974–5 (B1, repr. as frontispiece); Leningrad and Moscow 1975–6 (88).

Lit. Thornbury 1862, i, pp. 45, 63; ii, p. 320; 1877, pp. 25, 36, 42, 392, 419; Hamerton 1879, p. 38; Armstrong 1902, pp. 28–9, 227, repr. facing p. 8; MacColl 1920, p. 2; Davies 1946, p. 187; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 76, pl. 1; Herrmann 1975, p. 225, pl. 1.

Datable c. 1798 for reasons of style and the age of the sitter.


Published in:
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984

Film and audio

Joseph Mallord William TurnerNorham Castle, Sunrise c.1845 on display at Tate Britain

Turner on the £20 note

In this short film, Turner expert and Curator David Brown talks about Self-Portrait c.1799, a work which is central ...

Features

J.M.W. Turner, Death on a Pale Horse (?) c.1825–30

The Fall of Anarchy: Politics and Anatomy in an Enigmatic Painting by J.M.W. Turner

Sam Smiles

The subject of Turner’s mysterious unfinished painting, known today as Death on a Pale Horse, is a problem that ...

Explore

You might like

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Self-Portrait at the Age of Sixteen’ 1791–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner Self-Portrait at the Age of Sixteen

1791–2
TW1072
Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey, ‘Self-Portrait’ c.1810

Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey Self-Portrait

c.1810
N01591

After John Hamilton Mortimer Self-Portrait

date not known
T01041
Sir Joshua Reynolds, ‘Self-Portrait’ c.1775

Sir Joshua Reynolds Self-Portrait

c.1775
N00306

Lemuel Francis Abbott Portrait of the Engraver Francesco Bartolozzi

date not known
T01067
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Self-Portrait’ c.1790

Joseph Mallord William Turner Self-Portrait

c.1790
TW0523
Sir Joshua Reynolds, ‘Self-Portrait as a Deaf Man’ c.1775

Sir Joshua Reynolds Self-Portrait as a Deaf Man

c.1775
N04505
Alfred Stevens, ‘Self-Portrait at the Age of 14’ 1832

Alfred Stevens Self-Portrait at the Age of 14

1832
N03805
John Opie, ‘Portrait of the Artist’ c.1790

John Opie Portrait of the Artist

c.1790
N01826
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Rome, from the Vatican. Raffaelle, Accompanied by La Fornarina, Preparing his Pictures for the Decoration of the Loggia’ exhibited 1820

Joseph Mallord William Turner Rome, from the Vatican. Raffaelle, Accompanied by La Fornarina, Preparing his Pictures for the Decoration of the Loggia

exhibited 1820
On display at Tate Britain part of Turner Collection N00503

John Thomas Smith Portrait of J.M.W. Turner, R.A.

date not known
N02728
Johan Zoffany, ‘Colonel Mordaunt’s Cock Match’ c.1784–6

Johan Zoffany Colonel Mordaunt’s Cock Match

c.1784–6
On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art T06856
Gilbert Stuart, ‘Portrait of a Man (Self-portrait?)’ c.1782–9

Gilbert Stuart Portrait of a Man (Self-portrait?)

c.1782–9
N05612

Sir William Beechey James P. Johnstone

date not known
N01670
John Hoppner, ‘William Smith the Actor’ c.1788

John Hoppner William Smith the Actor

c.1788
N00133