J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

This sheet features an elementary study of a rainbow forming above a hilly landscape where several cattle are grazing. The streak of light paint in the upper right corner of the sheet might suggest that Turner was trying to sketch a double rainbow.

James Hamilton has suggested that ‘This atmospheric watercolour ... seems stylistically to belong to the mid-1810s, and may have been made at Farnley, c.1816, after a day out on the hills.’1 Turner’s friend and patron, Walter Fawkes, lived at Farnley Hall in Yorkshire and Turner was a regular guest there; see the ‘Farnley Hall and Yorkshire c.1808–24’ section, largely by David Hill, in the present catalogue. Hamilton also observes that the ‘subdued colour in the rainbow, practically washed out, indicates that the paper has been soaked and rubbed experimentally, to heighten the effect of rain and sudden light.’2

It is evident that Turner found rainbows fascinating, their form combining his lifelong interests in light and colour. A number of his works contain representations of rainbows, including: Tate D02608, D02609, D16375, D17182, D25247, D25272, D25296, D34987, D34993, D36038, D36199, D36277 and D36302 (Turner Bequest LIII 97, 98, CLXXXIX 46, CXCVI R, CCLXIII 125, 150, 174, CCCXLV 18, 21, CCCLXIV 193, 339, 409, CCCLXV 12).

Technical notes:

This sheet is laid down on a white mount; the verso is not visible.