Study of the Lower Half of an Ascending Figure

?1793

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Copies after Other Artists
Medium: Chalk and gouache on paper
Dimensions: Support: 350 x 286 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D00196
Turner Bequest XVIII A

Catalogue entry

The study is copied from a drawing in black and white chalks on buff paper by the Scottish artist James Nevay (c.1730–after 1811) after Michelangelo’s Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican in Rome. Nevay’s drawing is dated 1772, and was given by him with five other drawings after figures from the Last Judgment to the Royal Academy in 1773. The figure drawn here is to be found in the centre of the left-hand side of the composition. Another, larger copy of the whole figure by Turner is in a private collection; the latter collection has also the study of a foot, from a classical figure, and, on the verso, a drawing of the head of the Fighting Gladiator (see from this series Tate D00069, D00070, D40219; Turner Bequest V Q, R, and P [verso]).

The verso is D40233.

Technical notes:

For the paper, see notes to Tate D00064 (Turner Bequest V L).

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

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