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

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.

Petworth’s White Library was well-used as a 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). Here the room is clearly identifiable thanks to the rows of small framed paintings seen against red walls in the background; less clearly delineated are the foreground figures. Like in many of Turner’s Petworth studies, the effects of light and shade on the space take a central role, with light streaming in from the windows in a dramatic fashion, illuminating the floor and part of the walls and leaving the other half of the room in shadow.

Verso:

Blank, save for inscriptions: inscribed in pencil ‘34’ centre; stamped in black ‘CCXLIV 96’ bottom left; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram bottom left.