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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner Blank c.1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Blank’ c.1845
Blank c.1845
D40442
Inscribed in pencil ‘CCCLIII’ and ‘H’ towards top left
Stamped in black ‘CCCLIII’ top left
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The inside of the Whalers sketchbook’s front cover, this pastedown is not specifically mentioned in Finberg’s 1909 Turner Bequest Inventory.1 The corresponding inner face of the back cover, with a watercolour seascape, is D35259 (Turner Bequest CCCLIII 20).
1
See A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.1162.
Technical notes:
There is what appears to be offsetting of grey or black watercolour across the lower half, probably as a result of damage in the Tate Gallery flood of 1928.

Amy Concannon
May 2025

How to cite

Amy Concannon, ‘Blank c.1845’, catalogue entry, May 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2026, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/blank-r1214170, accessed 11 July 2026.