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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Perspective lectures c.1809-28 > Perspective Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscription by Turner: A Note on Reflection c.1809

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Inscription by Turner: A Note on Reflection’ c.1809
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 80 Recto:
Inscription by Turner: A Note on Reflection circa 1809
D07488
Turner Bequest CVIII 80
Pen and ink on white wove paper, 88 x 115 mm
Part watermark ‘man | 8’
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Foce Reflexi – Reflxing angle’ top centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘80’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CVIII – 80’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Maurice Davies places this page among the extensive notes ‘on light and shadow’1 towards the end of the sketchbook, but the source for this particular inscription is unclear. Presumably Turner has noted the Latin phrase from an unidentified publication and gives its English equivalent. It may possibly relate to the diagrams on folios 80 verso and 81 recto (D07489, D07490).
1
Davies 1994, p.289.
Technical notes:
There is slight offsetting from the ink inscription on folio 79 verso opposite (D07487).

Matthew Imms
June 2008

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Inscription by Turner: A Note on Reflection c.1809 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-inscription-by-turner-a-note-on-reflection-r1136684, accessed 05 April 2026.