Joseph Mallord William Turner

As Finberg points out, this study is unfinished, although the tonal modelling is highly developed, with the figure illuminated against a shadowed background.

For the Apollo Belvedere see principally, in this group of studies, Tate D00056 (Turner Bequest V C), which also depicts the figure whole-length. Other studies of the Apollo in this group are Tate D00057 and D40218 (Turner Bequest V D, O [verso]).

Technical notes:

The paper is off-white wove, attributed by Finberg to Whatman. Peter Bower, however, considers Edmeads and Pine of Ivy Mill, near Maidstone, a more likely maker.1 It was possibly manufactured as a drawing paper during the firm’s experiments with such papers in the last years of the eighteenth century. The sheet was formerly laid down on modern white cartridge paper. There is a horizontal fold across the centre and the lower right corner has been torn away.

Verso:

Blank; black chalk trials.