Joseph Mallord William Turner

Study of a Head

?1792

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Not on display

Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Studies from the Antique and Other Sculpture
Medium
Chalk on paper
Dimensions
Support: 372 × 266 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D40214

Catalogue entry

Finberg tentatively identified this head as that of the Venus de’ Medici, which is studied in whole length on the recto of this sheet (D00059; Turner Bequest V F). But the turn of the neck is to the figure’s right rather than to the left, and the coiffure is apparently not the same, suggesting that this represents a different statue. The most likely candidate is the head of Paris that Turner studied on Tate D00054 (Turner Bequest V A) from this series.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

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