Joseph Mallord William Turner

Stourhead: View over the Lake

?1798

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On loan

Centro Cultural Palacio la Moneda (Santiago, Chile): Turner Watercolours

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Architectural Drawings for Commissions
Medium: Graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 528 x 681 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D01909
Turner Bequest XLIV g

Catalogue entry

The degree of elaboration in the details of figures and buildings suggests that this may be an uncompleted ‘finished’ watercolour, based on Tate D01908 (Turner Bequest XLIV f). Alternatively, both are preparatory studies for an unexecuted work; the subject was presumably commissioned by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, and may have been intended as one of a set; see Tate D01907 (Turner Bequest XLIV e), another contender for the group. The buildings visible in this view are the same as those in D01908 – the Temple of Flora and St Peter’s Church.

Technical notes:

Turner’s liberal use of stopping-out suggests that he regarded this drawing as an opportunity to experiment technically. The very rough, almost violent, scraping-out in the area of the sky may have been achieved with a coarse cloth;1 though it is possible that some of the scratches are the result of an accident.

The sheet was formerly laid down onto a larger piece of brown card, inscribed in pencil ‘M^r [?or ‘W’] | Turner [?Atty] | [... ?Church 2 [?Wrapper] I [?Paper]’ at the bottom left. It is not certain that the inscription is in Turner’s hand.

The suggestion was made by Eric Shanes (oral communication).

Verso:

Blank; the card on which the sheet had been laid down has been removed.

Andrew Wilton
March 2013

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