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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Thames sketchbooks c.1804-14 > River and Margate Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Figures: Study for 'The Unpaid Bill, or the Dentist Reproving his Son's Prodigality' c.1807-8

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Figures: Study for 'The Unpaid Bill, or the Dentist Reproving his Son's Prodigality'’ c.1807-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 79 Recto:
Two Figures: Study for ‘The Unpaid Bill, or the Dentist Reproving his Son’s Prodigality’ circa 1807–8
D06490
Turner Bequest XCIX 75
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 115 x 190 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘75’ bottom left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘XCIX 75’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the sketchbook inverted. For The Unpaid Bill, or the Dentist Reproving his Son’s Prodigality (collection of the Schindler Family)1 and related drawings in this sketchbook see comment to folio 77 recto (D06486; Turner Bequest XCIX 73). Two figures are drawn here. On the left are the head and shoulders of a seated man, seen from behind and turned to right. He seems to wear a wig and must be intended for the dentist himself although in the picture he does not appear to have a wig although his son perhaps does. The standing woman on the right, in profile to left, turned to left, retains the early idea for the dentist’s wife from 77 verso (D06487; Turner Bequest XCIX 73a). In the picture, she is shown seated.

David Blayney Brown
March 2009

1
Butlin and Joll 1984, pp.61–2 no.81 (pl.91).

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Two Figures: Study for ‘The Unpaid Bill, or the Dentist Reproving his Son’s Prodigality’ c.1807–8 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2009, 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-two-figures-study-for-the-unpaid-bill-or-the-dentist-r1130686, accessed 16 July 2025.