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

Finberg records an inscription: ‘Mr Turner’. When the drawing was lifted from its modern backing paper it was not found, but instead part of a soft-ground etching showing a rocky wooded hillside. The style of the drawing in this print suggests that it is Turner’s own work of about 1794. Compare the fragmentary print Tate D41464 (Turner Bequest XXXII C v).

Turner had noted etching materials, and even possibly planned a series of etchings by himself, as early 1791; see Tate D40213 (Turner Bequest V D [verso]). There is further evidence of a returning interest in etching in a note in his Studies near Brighton sketchbook (Tate D40761; Turner Bequest XXX inside back cover).

Technical notes:

The sheet had been folded vertically two-thirds of the way across.