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.

This study shows Petworth’s Marble Hall. Turner made three blue paper studies of this room; for more information and the others, see the entry for D22689 (Turner Bequest CCXLIV 27). Here, a group of men are seen gathered around the fireplace on the south wall, with both the light and atmosphere suggesting that this is an evening scene. The grand interior is loosely indicated, mostly using brownish watercolour combined with white gouache highlights. The art historian Ian Warrell suggested the painting seen in a prominent position above the fireplace is a portrait of Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, bought by the third earl, which was believed at the time to be by Raphael.1 However, as Christopher Rowell noted, while Turner’s depiction does not suggest the portrait is the one that hung in its place by the time of the 1837 inventory of the house - a portrait of a cardinal recently reattributed to Titian still in the Petworth collection - it appears too indistinct to otherwise identify.2

Verso:

Blank, save for inscriptions: inscribed in pencil ‘31 a’ centre; stamped in black ‘CCXLIV 82’ bottom left; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram bottom left.