J.M.W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner Petworth House: A Bedroom, with a Lady in a Black Silk Dress Seated on a Pink Sofa 1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
Petworth House: A Bedroom, with a Lady in a Black Silk Dress Seated on a Pink Sofa
1827
Petworth House: A Bedroom, with a Lady in a Black Silk Dress Seated on a Pink Sofa 1827
D22704
Turner Bequest CCXLIV 42
Turner Bequest CCXLIV 42
Gouache and watercolour on blue wove paper, 140 x 193 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCXLIV 42’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXLIV 42’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1961
J.W.M. [sic] Turner 1775–1851: Watercolours: On Loan to the National Gallery of Victoria on the Occasion of its Centenary from the Turner Bequest by Courtesy of the Trustees and Director of the British Museum, London, with the Assistance of the British Council, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, September–October 1961, National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, October–November 1961 (15b).
1947
Turner 1775–1851: Tentoonstelling in het Stedelijk Museum te Amsterdam georganiseerd door de Tate Gallery voor de British Council, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 1947 (51).
1947
William Turner 1775–1851: Die Ausstellung wurde von der Tate Gallery für den British Council organisiert, Berner Kunstmuseum, Bern, December 1947–February 1948 (51b).
1948
Turner 1775–1851: Tentoonstelling van schilderijen ingericht door de Tate Gallery voor The British Council in het Ministerie van Openbaar Onderwijs van Belgie, Palais voor Schone Kunst, Brussels and Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Liège, March–April 1948 (51b).
1948
Turner 1775–1851: Exposition de peintures organisée par la Tate Gallery pour le British Council, Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, ?March 1948 (51b).
1951
Aquarelle aus dem Turner-Nachlass im Britischen Museum veranstaltet vom British Council, Düsseldorf, Wiesbaden, Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg: September or October 1950–March 1951, and September 1951–April 1952 (11b).
1951
The Turner Collection from Petworth, Tate Gallery, London, May–July 1951.
1938
[Display of Watercolours], National Gallery, London, December 1938–September 1939 (no catalogue, as one of ‘Three Interiors at Petworth’).
1963
J.M.W. Turner, Bridgestone Gallery, Tokyo, September–October 1963, Fine Arts Museum, Osaska, November 1963 (17b).
1964
Turner 1775–1851: Watercolours from the British Museum, London, Presented in Association with the British Council, City Hall Art Gallery, Hong Kong, January 1964 (17b).
1974
Turner 1775–1851, Royal Academy, London, November 1974–March 1975 (352).
1983
Turner and the Human Figure: Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Loaned by the British Museum, Tate Gallery, London, December 1983–July 1984 (no catalogue), as ‘Lady in black silk dress seated on couch’.
1987
Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Tate Gallery, London, April–October 1987 (no catalogue), as ‘Petworth: A Woman in Black sitting with a Framed Painting on a Pink Sofa’.
1989
[display of Turner’s Petworth watercolours and sketchbooks], Tate Gallery, London, Summer 1989 (no catalogue).
2002
Turner at Petworth, Petworth House, Petworth, July–September 2002 (66).
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.745, CCXLIV 42, as ‘Lady in black silk dress seated on couch, with a picture at her side’.
1961
J. Isaacs, J.W.M. [sic] Turner 1775–1851: Watercolours: On Loan to the National Gallery of Victoria on the Occasion of its Centenary from the Turner Bequest by Courtesy of the Trustees and Director of the British Museum, London, with the Assistance of the British Council, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 1961 no.15b as ‘Lady with a picture on a couch’.
1947
[Humphrey Brooke], Turner 1775–1851: Tentoonstelling in het Stedelijk Museum te Amsterdam georganiseerd door de Tate Gallery voor de British Council, exhibition catalogue, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 1947, no.51 as one of ‘Impressions at Petworth’.
1947
[Humphrey Brooke], William Turner 1775–1851: Die Ausstellung wurde von der Tate Gallery für den British Council organisiert, exhibition catalogue, Berner Kunstmuseum, Bern 1947, no.51b as one of ‘Impressions at Petworth’.
1948
[Humphrey Brooke], Turner 1775–1851: Tentoonstelling van schilderijen ingericht door de Tate Gallery voor The British Council in het Ministerie van Openbaar Onderwijs van Belgie, exhibition catalogue, Palais voor Schone Kunst, Brussels and Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Liège (‘Luik’) 1948, no.51b as one of ‘Impressions at Petworth’.
1948
[Humphrey Brooke], Turner 1775–1851: Exposition de peintures organisée par la Tate Gallery pour le British Council, exhibition catalogue, Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris 1948, no.51b as one of ‘Impressions at Petworth’.
1950
J. Isaacs, Aquarelle aus dem Turner-Nachlass im Britischen Museum veranstaltet vom British Council, exhibition British Council German tour, 1950, no.11b as one of ‘Impressions at Petworth’.
1951
John Rothenstein, The Turner Collection from Petworth, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1951 as ‘Lady in black silk dress seated on a couch’.
1963
Basil Gray, Edward Croft-Murray and Martin Butlin, J.M.W. Turner, exhibition catalogue, Bridgestone Gallery, Tokyo 1963, no.17b as ‘Lady with a picture on a couch’.
1964
Basil Gray, Edward Croft-Murray and Martin Butlin, Turner 1775–1851: An Exhibition of Watercolours from the British Museum London, Presented in Association with the British Council, exhibition catalogue, City Hall Art Gallery, Hong Kong 1964, no.17b as ‘Lady with a picture on a couch’.
1974
Martin Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London 1974, as ‘Petworth: A Woman in Black sitting with a Framed Painting on a Pink Sofa’.
1975
Gerald Wilkinson, Turner’s Colour Sketches 1820–34, London 1975, p.58 reproduced.
1983
John Gage, Jerrold Ziff, Nicholas Alfrey and others, J.M.W. Turner, à l’occasion du cinquantième anniversaire du British Council, exhibition catalogue, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris 1983, p.238 under no.171.
1989
Martin Butlin, Mollie Luther and Ian Warrell, Turner at Petworth: Painter and Patron, London 1989, pp.61, 70 note 1, 145, 146, 202 pl.52.
1990
Martin Butlin, Mollie Luther and Ian Warrell, Turner: Les Années Egremont: Chefs d’oeuvre inédits, trans. Tamara Préaud, Paris 1990, pl.52.
1991
Ian Warrell, Turner: The Fourth Decade: Watercolours 1820–1830, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1991, p.61 under no.66.
2002
Christopher Rowell, Ian Warrell and David Blayney Brown, Turner at Petworth, exhibition catalogue, Petworth House, Petworth 2002, pp.169 fig.162, 195 under no.66.
This is one of a large group of separate studies, most of which were made in gouache and watercolour on blue paper, associated with a visit to Petworth House in West Sussex, the home of the third Earl of Egremont. For more information, see the Introduction to this section.
While this study has previously been connected with Petworth’s Old Library,1 the interior lacks significant features associated with this room. It has more recently been suggested that the sheet shows one of the house’s many bedrooms, which were, like the Old Library, used additionally as studios by the artists in Lord Egremont’s circle, where they were also free to study paintings usually displayed in other parts of the house.2 The woman in black shown here is perched on the edge of the sofa, on the middle of which sits a framed painting, perhaps newly painted, or perhaps an existing example from Lord Egremont’s collection. A further two paintings on the wall in the background do not obviously correlate with particular oils in the Petworth collection, perhaps due to Turner’s approximate rendering of them, but well reflect contemporary accounts that the bedrooms were hung with framed portraits.3
Strengthening the argument that this is a bedroom is the presence of what appears to be a similar pink sofa in another of Turner’s bedroom studies: Tate D22745 (Turner Bequest CCXLIV 83). Indeed, this study could feasibly show the same interior viewed from a different spot.
As he did in many of the colour studies catalogued in this section, Turner combined the translucent effects of watercolour with more opaque strokes completed in gouache: here, the flesh tones added to the lady’s face have particular solidity. The bold red pigment seen in the painting next to her also forms a focal point.
Verso:
Blank, save for inscriptions: inscribed in pencil ‘16 | l’ near centre; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram and CCXLIV 42’ bottom left.
Elizabeth Jacklin
February 2019
February 2019
How to cite
‘Petworth House: A Bedroom, with a Lady in a Black Silk Dress Seated on a Pink Sofa 1827’, catalogue entry, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2024, https://www