Joseph Mallord William Turner

The drawing is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. A second sketch on this page, apparently showing a building and trees, has been obliterated. Another study of a woman in a ruched cap, in the Marford Mill sketchbook (Tate D00310; Turner Bequest XX 35), has been thought to show Turner’s mother. This one is more likely to be the portrait of a member of the Narraway family, with whom Turner was staying in Bristol when this sketchbook was in use. A drawing in a private collection, also traditionally identified as Turner’s mother, may also in fact show, as Wilton has suggested,1 another member of the Narraway family; most likely a man, and possibly Mr Narraway himself.

Verso:

Blank; stains of grey colour, transferred from folio 3 recto (D00074), probably at the time of the 1928 flood; stamped in black ink with Turner Bequest monogram.