Joseph Mallord William Turner List of Proposed Pictures (Inscription by Turner) c.1812-13
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Joseph Mallord William Turner,
List of Proposed Pictures (Inscription by Turner)
c.1812-13
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Recto:
List of Proposed Pictures (Inscription by Turner) c.1812–13
D09063
Turner Bequest CXXIX 4
Turner Bequest CXXIX 4
Pencil on white wove paper, 110 x 178 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil (see main catalogue entry)
Trace of inscription by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘4 [?]’ bottom right
Stamped in brown ‘CXXIX 4’ bottom right
Inscribed by Turner in pencil (see main catalogue entry)
Trace of inscription by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘4 [?]’ bottom right
Stamped in brown ‘CXXIX 4’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p. 361, CXXIX 4, as ‘4 “1. “Snow Storm” ...’.
1968
Wallace Collection Catalogues: Pictures and Drawings, Text with Historical Notes and Illustrations, London 1968, pp.328–9 as Woodcock Shooting on the Chevin (P651).
1980
David Hill, Stanley Warburton, Mary Tussey and others, Turner in Yorkshire, exhibition catalogue, York City Art Gallery 1980, p.58 , no. 87.
1984
The Watercolour Collection Formed by Mrs Cecil Keith: Including a Group of Drawings from the Collection of her Father, J. Leslie Wright, Exhibited by Kind Permission of the City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, exhibition catalogue, Thos Agnew & Sons, London 1984, p.33 , no. 91.
Turner’s list reads:
1 Snow Storm
2 Snow on the ground
3 Do with Sun shine
4 Tempest P done
5 Cart with timber
at Rawdon
6 Moonlight
7 Lancaster Sands
8 Grouse Shooting
9 Partridge do
10 Woodcock
11 Coursing
12 Ice
2 Snow on the ground
3 Do with Sun shine
4 Tempest P done
5 Cart with timber
at Rawdon
6 Moonlight
7 Lancaster Sands
8 Grouse Shooting
9 Partridge do
10 Woodcock
11 Coursing
12 Ice
Three of these subjects can be identified with confidence, four more speculatively, but the remaining five are mysterious. It seems likely that the list is a statement of intent, probably for work during the winter of 1812–13, but only partially realised.
Works that can be confidently identified are as follows:
‘7 Lancaster Sands’ is the watercolour Lancaster Sands (Birmingham City Art Gallery)1 painted for Walter Fawkes of Farnley Hall. This has been variously dated by scholars; c.1818 by Andrew Wilton2 and James Hamilton,3 ?c.1814–15 by David Hill, Stanley Warburton and Mary Tussey,4 and c.1816 by the present writer independently.5 Its appearance here certainly suggests its conception, if not necessarily its execution, dates from 1812–13.
‘8 Grouse Shooting’ is the watercolour of Grouse Shooting (Wallace Collection, London) painted for Sir William Pilkington of Stanley Chevet, Wakefield.6
Those for which identifications might be suggested are as follows:
‘1 Snow Storm’ could be the painting Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps (Tate N00490)8 exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1812. Tempting as this identification might seem, it presents some problems for the dating of the list to 1812, since there is no indication that the picture was ‘done’ as with no.4 in the list (see the following).
‘4. Tempest P done’ is possibly the painting The Wreck of a Transport Ship (Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon) 9 although as this seems to have bought by the Hon. Charles Pelham in 1810, quite why it should have been included in this list evidently of later works remains unclear.
‘2. Snow on the ground, 3. Do With Sun shine, 5. Cart with Timber at Rawdon, and 12 Ice’. These titles are unidentifiable but indicate Turner thinking of similar subjects to the oil painting Frosty Morning (Tate N00492)10 exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1813. Since Walter Thornbury published the testimony of Turner’s friend H.S. Trimmer in 186211 this has been thought to be a Yorkshire subject, probably in the neighbourhood of Farnley Hall. Rawdon lies between Leeds and Farnley..
‘6 Moonlight’ is possibly (but more remotely) the watercolour Lake of Brienz, Moonlight (private collection),12 painted for Walter Fawkes.
James Hamilton, Turner’s Britain, exhibition catalogue, Gas Hall, Birmingham Museums &Art Gallery 2003, p.119 reproduced pl.95.
Verso:
Blank
David Hill
October 2008
How to cite
David Hill, ‘List of Proposed Pictures (Inscription by Turner) c.1812–13 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www