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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Southern Germany, Austria and Venice ... > Salzburg and Danube Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Interior of an Inn with Figures Seated at Tables 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Interior of an Inn with Figures Seated at Tables’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 54 Recto:
Interior of an Inn with Figures Seated at Tables 1833
D30236
Turner Bequest CCC 54
Pencil on off-white lined paper, 99 x 159 mm
Partial watermark ‘J’
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘De Hooge’ top centre towards left, ‘Grey B[...]’ top centre towards right, ‘[?Glass]’ top right, ‘W | Wall | 1’ right, ‘2’ centre towards right
Remains of inscription in red ink by Ruskin ‘54’ bottom right
Inscribed in black ink over Ruskin by CF Bell ‘54’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCC–54’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner produced this sketch during a visit to an inn, possibly at Linz in Austria. Figures are seated at tables and a man in a top hat at the bar can be seen at centre. Various jottings record details of the interior: ‘Grey B[...]’ at top centre, ‘[?Glass] at top right and ‘W[hite] | Wall’ at right.
‘De Hooge’ probably refers to Pieter de Hooch (1629–87), a Dutch artist who painted lively tavern interiors.1 As other sketches in the Bequest show, Turner occasionally inscribed the names of artists of whom he was reminded when recording views and other scenes (see, for example, Tate D19588; Turner Bequest CCXVI 19).

Alice Rylance-Watson
July 2017

1
Herold 1997, p.84.

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Interior of an Inn with Figures Seated at Tables 1833 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-interior-of-an-inn-with-figures-seated-at-tables-r1203369, accessed 20 May 2025.