Joseph Mallord William Turner

This is the left half of a double-page spread continued on D12022; Turner Bequest CLIII 16, opposite, and further right on D12023; Turner Bequest CLIII 17, following, recording the north, east and south walls of the Georgian library at Farnley Hall, the seat of Turner’s friend and patron Walter Fawkes. This new library was in the new part of the house added by the architect John Carr of York in 1790. The doorway to the left leads to the drawing room, and through it can just be seen a harp. On the left page are details of two women seated at a small table, possibly playing chess, and a study of the ceiling roundel above. On the right are further details of Chinese porcelain vases clustered on a table and a picture, seemingly a portrait. No finished watercolour of this composition is recorded but an entry in the list on Tate D12013; Turner Bequest CLIII 11a of the present sketchbook, ‘18 Library’, indicates at least the intention to produce something.