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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner Petworth House: Figures, Probably in the White Library ('The Red Lady on a Couch') 1827

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Petworth House: Figures, Probably in the White Library ('The Red Lady on a Couch')’ 1827
Petworth House: Figures, Probably in the White Library (‘The Red Lady on a Couch’) 1827
D22695
Turner Bequest CCXLIV 33
Gouache and watercolour on blue wove paper, 138 x 185 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCXLIV 33’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
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.
The setting for this scene is thought to be Petworth’s White Library,1 a well-used drawing room in which guests gathered both before and after dinner; for more information about Turner’s numerous studies of this room, see the entry for Tate D22678 (Turner Bequest CCXLIV 16). Although the interior is indistinct, the goldish marks seen in the background are suggestive of bookcases, and above these the wall appears to be red: these aspects of the room are comparably depicted in a far more detailed view (Tate D22678; Turner Bequest CCXLIV 16). Turner focuses on two female figures, the woman at the centre languid on a couch while her companion turns towards her. Although hastily rendered, they fully reflect the relaxed and comfortable atmosphere Turner evokes in his studies of the house.
1
Butlin, Luther and Warrell 1989, pp.142, 143, 172 pl.22.
Verso:
Blank, save for inscriptions: inscribed in pencil: ‘12 | [?]c’ near centre; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram and ‘CCXLIV 33’ bottom left.

Elizabeth Jacklin
February 2019

How to cite

Elizabeth Jacklin, ‘Petworth House: Figures, Probably in the White Library (‘The Red Lady on a Couch’) 1827’, catalogue entry, February 2019, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2024, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/petworth-house-figures-probably-in-the-white-library-the-red-lady-on-a-couch-r1209126, accessed 09 June 2025.