Joseph Mallord William Turner

Study for ‘Rokeby’

1822

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Colour Studies for Subjects Commissioned by Walter Fawkes
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 174 x 249 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D25409
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 286

Catalogue entry

This is one of four loose ‘colour beginnings’ related to the 1822 watercolour Rokeby (The Higgins, Bedford),1 showing a rocky, wooded ravine on the River Greta (see also Tate D25371, D25408 and D25411; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 249, 285, 288). This connection was established by Eric Shanes;2 see under D25371 for discussion of the circumstances, subject and composition of the finished design.

Only this variation of the four employs a horizontal format rather than the upright arrangement seen in the completed work; nevertheless, if the left-hand half is disregarded, the similarity is immediately clear. Eric Shanes has compared the setting to that of the secluded scene in the mid-1810s watercolour A Rocky Pool, with a Heron and a Kingfisher,3 traditionally known as ‘A Lonely Dell, Wharfedale’ (Leeds Museums and Art Galleries).4

Wilton 1979, p.424 no.1053, reproduced.

See Shanes 1997, pp.16–17, 30, 84–6, 97, 99, 101; see also Joll 2002, p.272, House 2006, p.12, and House 2013, p.31.

See Shanes 1997, p.84.

Wilton 1979, p.362 no.542, reproduced).

Verso:

Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘69 | b’ right of centre; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCLXIII – 286’ towards bottom left; inscribed in pencil ‘D.25409’ bottom left.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

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