Joseph Mallord William Turner

Study of Clouds

c.1823–4

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: River Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 111 x 190 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D17805
Turner Bequest CCIV 26

Catalogue entry

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this vigorous study lacks the annotations of colour or tone which Turner sometimes employed. There is no indication of a landscape setting; for other sky and cloud studies in this sketchbook, see the entry for the inside front cover (D40982).

Technical notes:

John Ruskin’s customary red ink page number at the corner beside the later stamp is not readily apparent here, although those on other leaves of this sketchbook are generally very faint. Finberg noted: ‘Part of leaf torn.’1 A large piece of the other outer corner, up to 73 x 43 mm, has been made good with modern, off-white wove paper.

Matthew Imms
November 2014

Finberg 1909, I, p.618.

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