Joseph Mallord William Turner

Study of the Belvedere Hermes

?1793

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Studies from the Antique and Other Sculpture
Medium
Chalk and gouache on paper
Dimensions
Support: 400 × 216 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D00064
Turner Bequest V L

Catalogue entry

In this study the modelling has reached a new level of skill, anticipating the accomplishment of Tate D00067 (Turner Bequest V O) in this series. The Hermes, formerly thought to represent Antinous, is a Roman marble copy of a fourth-century BC Praxitelean figure that came into the possession of the Farnese family, and stood in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome until it was transferred to the Vatican collections.
Technical notes:
In Peter Bower’s view the sheet is perhaps of French manufacture; it is from a single-faced mould.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with the Turner bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Left Right

In the shop

Browse the shop