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.

Turner made numerous studies of the bedrooms at Petworth during his 1827 visit; for more information and a list see the entry for Tate D22677 (Turner Bequest CCXLIV 15). Some of the bedroom studies include nude or nearly nude figures (for example, Tate D22731; Turner Bequest CCXLIV 69) and this depiction of an unkempt bed surrounded by crimson curtains, a mirror partially seen reflecting the bed on the left, also seems suggestive. The shape just to the left of the bed, behind what appears to be a chair, has the look of a person hiding in the corner, although this is indistinct; if it is a figure it seems to hint at the same voyeurism detectable in relation to the unknowing female figure viewed from behind in D22741 (Turner Bequest CCXLIV 79). The extent to which these erotically charged scenes were based on the reality of Turner’s experience at Petworth or his imagination remains mysterious.

Verso:

The verso of this sheet was not available for inspection at the time of cataloguing.