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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > History Painting c.1799-1807 > Studies for Pictures Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Man Bending over Two Kneeling Figures c.1799-1802

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Man Bending over Two Kneeling Figures’ c.1799-1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 67 Recto:
A Man Bending over Two Kneeling Figures c.1799–1802
D04077
Turner Bequest LXIX 67
Pencil and white chalk on blue laid paper, 210 x 135 mm
Watermark: Strasburg lily (trimmed)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘67’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LXIX-67’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject is continued briefly on folio 66 verso opposite (D04076). This study presumably relates to the historical subjects on which Turner was working around the turn of the century. It is possibly connected with the oil painting Dolbadern Castle, North Wales (Royal Academy of Arts, London)1 where in the foreground two figures seated on the ground and apparently bound and guarded by two soldiers. See folios 107 recto, 108 recto, 111 recto and 112 recto (D04124, D04125, D04128, D04129; Turner Bequest LXIX 108, 109, 112, 113) for studies of the general composition of that work.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.9–10 no.12, pl.7 (colour).

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Man Bending over Two Kneeling Figures c.1799–1802 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-man-bending-over-two-kneeling-figures-r1177956, accessed 26 April 2024.