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 ... > Heidelberg up to Salzburg Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Reclining Female, Two Sketches; Distant View of the Alps 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Reclining Female, Two Sketches; Distant View of the Alps’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 78 Recto:
Reclining Female, Two Sketches; Distant View of the Alps 1833
D29968
Turner Bequest CCXCVIII 78
Pencil on off-white lined paper, 110 x 165 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Brechle’ | ‘P’ top centre
Inscribed in blue ink by Ruskin ‘78’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CCXCVIII 78’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
A reclining female nude is depicted in two sketches, one more developed than the other. ‘Brechle’ is inscribed above the figure.
The distant profile of the Alps is recorded to the left of the figure sketches, and rendered with the sketchbook turned in accordance with the foliation. This sketch continues onto the folio opposite (Tate D29967; Turner Bequest CCXCVIII 77a).

Alice Rylance-Watson
July 2017

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Reclining Female, Two Sketches; Distant View of the Alps 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-reclining-female-two-sketches-distant-view-of-the-alps-r1203228, accessed 05 April 2026.