J.M.W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner Petworth House: The Old Library, with a Man Seated before Sir William Beechey's Portrait 'Mrs Hasler as Flora' 1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
Petworth House: The Old Library, with a Man Seated before Sir William Beechey's Portrait 'Mrs Hasler as Flora'
1827
Petworth House: The Old Library, with a Man Seated before Sir William Beechey’s Portrait ‘Mrs Hasler as Flora’ 1827
D22682
Turner Bequest CCXLIV 20
Turner Bequest CCXLIV 20
Gouache and watercolour on blue wove paper, 140 x 193 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCXLIV 20’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXLIV 20’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1913
Art Gallery, Merthyr Tydfil, December 1913–May 1914 (no catalogue but numbered 111).
1914
[Petworth watercolours], Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, April–July 1914 (no catalogue found).
1914
Welsh Drawings by J.M.W. Turner, R.A., National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, October 1914–January 1915 (111).
1919
[Works from the Turner Bequest], Swansea 1919 (no catalogue found, but numbered 111).
1953
Display of Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Tate Gallery, London, January 1953–April 1959 (no catalogue, as ‘Petworth: library’).
1970
Turner at Petworth: An Exhibition Arranged by the National Trust of Drawings of Petworth by J.M.W. Turner R.A. 1775–1851, Petworth House, Petworth, June–August 1970 (no catalogue).
1974
Turner 1775–1851, Royal Academy, London, November 1974–March 1975 (346).
1975
Turner 1775–1851: zhivopis’, risunok, akvarel’, Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, October–November 1975, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, December 1975–January 1976 (36).
1976
J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Akvareller og Tegninger fra British Museum, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, February–May 1976 (46).
1976
William Turner und die Landschaft seiner Zeit, Hamburger Kunsthalle, May–July 1976 (68).
1978
Turner 1775–1851, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, December 1978–February 1979 (47).
1979
Oleos y acuarelas de Joseph Mallord William Turner, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, October[–?November] 1979 (BM 45).
1979
Exposicion del gran pintor ingles, William Turner: Oleos y acuarelas: Collecciones de la Tate Gallery, British Museum y otros museos ingleses, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, August–September 1979 (BM45).
1982
J.M.W. Turner Watercolors from the British Museum, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, March–May 1982, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May–July 1982 (32).
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 ‘Library, with painter seated before picture’).
1987
Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Tate Gallery, London, April–October 1987 (no catalogue, as ‘Petworth: The Old Library, with a Painter seated before his Easel’).
1989
[display of Turner’s Petworth watercolours and sketchbooks], Tate Gallery, London, Summer 1989 (no catalogue).
2001
William Turner: Licht und Farbe, Museum Folkwang, Essen, September 2001–January 2002, Kunsthaus Zürich, February–May 2002 (139).
2005
Turner at Petworth, Tate Gallery, London, October 2005–April 2006 (no catalogue).
2008
Тёрнер [Turner] (1775–1851), Pushkin Museum of Art, Moscow, November 2008–February 2009 (57).
2009
Turner from the Tate Collection, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, April–July 2009 (57).
2002
Turner at Petworth, Petworth House, Petworth, July–September 2002 (63).
References
1905
E.T. Cook, Hidden Treasures of the National Gallery. A Selection of Studies and Drawings by J.M.W. Turner, R.A. Now Published for the First Time. With Some Account of Them. With a Sketch of Turner’s Life, and Reproductions of a Number of his Finished Works, London 1905, p.16 reproduced.
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.744, CCXLIV 20, as ‘Library, with painter seated before picture on easel.’.
1914
Isaac J. Williams, Catalogue of an Exhibition of Welsh Drawings by J.M.W. Turner, R.A., exhibition catalogue, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff 1914, no.111 as ‘Library at Petworth, with Painter seated before picture on an easel’.
1939
Camille Mauclair, Turner, trans. Eveline Byam Shaw, London and Toronto 1939, p.156 reproduced.
1949
Kenneth Clark, ‘Turner at Petworth’, Ambassador, no.8, 1949, p.81 pl.6, as ‘The Artist at Work’.
1970
Lord Egremont and Kenneth Clark, Turner at Petworth: An Exhibition Arranged by the National Trust of Drawings of Petworth by J.M.W. Turner R.A. 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Petworth House, Petworth 1970.
1974
Martin Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London 1974, as ‘Petworth: the Library, with a Painter seated before an Easel’.
1975
Graham Reynolds, Turner 1775–1851: zhivopis’, risunok, akvarel’, exhibition catalogue, Hermitage Museum, Leningrad 1975, pp.13, 63 reproduced.
1975
Gerald Wilkinson, Turner’s Colour Sketches 1820–34, London 1975, p.54 reproduced.
1976
David Loshak and Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Akvareller og Tegninger fra British Museum, exhibition catalogue, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen 1976, as ‘Petworth: The Library, with a Painter seated before an Easel’.
1976
Werner Hofmann, Andrew Wilton, Siegmar Hosten and others, William Turner und die Landschaft seiner Zeit, exhibition catalogue, Hamburger Kunsthalle 1976, no.68 reproduced, p.18.
1978
John Sillevis, Nini Jonker and Hripsimé Visser, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague 1978, no.47 reproduced as ‘Petworth, the Library’, p.119.
1979
John Gage and Ana T. de Gradowska, Oleos y acuarelas de Joseph Mallord William Turner, exhibition catalogue, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela 1979, no.BM 45, p.44 reproduced.
1979
John Gage, Exposicion del gran pintor ingles, William Turner: Oleos y acuarelas: Collecciones de la Tate Gallery, British Museum y otros museos ingleses, exhibition catalogue, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City 1979, no.BM45, p.38 reproduced.
1982
Lindsay Stainton and Richard S. Schneiderman, J.M.W. Turner Watercolors from the British Museum, exhibition catalogue, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens 1982, no.32 reproduced as ‘Petworth: The Library, with an Artist Seated Before an Easel’, p.35.
1982
Guy Weelan, J.M.W. Turner, trans. I. Mark Paris, New York 1982, pl.84, p.78.
1985
Jack Lindsay, Turner: The Man and His Art, London 1985, p.130.
1989
Martin Butlin, Mollie Luther and Ian Warrell, Turner at Petworth: Painter and Patron, London 1989, pp. 108, 128, 145, 146, 200 pl.50.
1990
Martin Butlin, Mollie Luther and Ian Warrell, Turner: Les Années Egremont: Chefs d’oeuvre inédits, trans. Tamara Préaud, Paris 1990, pl.50.
1991
Ian Warrell, Turner: The Fourth Decade: Watercolours 1820–1830, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1991, p.61 under no.66.
1993
Ian Warrell, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Impressions de Gran Bretanya i el Continent Europeu / Impresiones de Gran Bretaña y el Continente Europeo, exhibition catalogue, Centre Cultural de la Fundació “la Caixa”, Barcelona 1993, p.297 under no.45.
1993
Joyce Townsend, Turner’s Painting Techniques, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1993, pp.17, 78 [80 in 2nd edition] Chapter 1 note 9 [cited incorrectly as ‘CCXLIV 120’].
1994
Ian Warrell, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Aquarelles et Dessins du Legs Turner: Collection de la Tate Gallery, Londres / Watercolours and Drawings from the Turner Bequest: Collection from the Tate Gallery, London, exhibition catalogue, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi 1994, p.152 under no.45.
1997
Christopher Rowell, Petworth House, West Sussex, London 1997, p.86.
2001
Andrew Wilton, Inge Bodesohn-Vogel and Helena Robinson, William Turner: Licht und Farbe, exhibition catalogue, Museum Folkwang, Essen 2001, no.139 reproduced, pp.53, 312 under no.78, 345 under no.147.
2002
Christopher Rowell, Ian Warrell and David Blayney Brown, Turner at Petworth, exhibition catalogue, Petworth House, Petworth 2002, pp.150, 153, 158 fig.152, 195 under no.63.
2002
Georg-W. Költzsch, William Turner: Die Warheit der Legende, [Cologne] 2002, pp.94, 95 reproduced, 96, as ‘Petworth: An Artist seated before a Picture’.
2008
Anna Poznanskaya, Ian Warrell, Mathew Imms and others, Тёрнер [Turner], exhibition catalogue, Pushkin Museum of Art, Moscow 2008, no.57 as ‘Petworth House. The Old Library, with an Artist, probably Sir William Beechey, seated before his portrait “Mrs Hasler as Flora”‘.
2009
Fan Di’an, Ian Warrell, Matthew Imms and others, Turner from the Tate Collection, exhibition catalogue, National Art Museum of China, Beijing 2009, p.174 under no.57.
2009
David Solkin (ed.), Turner and the Masters, exhibition catalogue, Tate Britain, London 2009, pp.174, 177 under nos.64 and 65, 230 note 5 under nos.64 and 65.
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 a man in front of an easel in Petworth’s Old Library; for more information about Turner’s use and depictions of this room, see the entry for Tate D22685 (Turner Bequest CCXLIV 23). The canvas has been identified as William Beechey’s Mrs Hasler as Flora (Egremont collection), which was executed in 1827 ready for exhibition the following year.1 It has been suggested the seated man, apparently an artist holding a palette - although the details of this are indistinct - is Beechey himself, a favourite of Lord Egremont.2 However, the figure looks too young to be Beechey, who was in his seventies by 1827, suggesting a younger assistant, or perhaps a house guest, is instead shown. To the left is a vase of flowers, presumably there to assist the floral elements of Beechey’s composition. Turner, too, took this floral arrangement as a subject in D22685, making a vivid still life.
A related sheet shows two artists, one of them older, discussing a picture, and might feasibly include Beechey’s picture once again (see the entry for Tate D22765; Turner Bequest CCXLIV 103). David Solkin has argued that Turner’s depictions of the Old Library in use as a studio partly informed the ‘unkempt chaos’ of the studio seen in his painting Watteau Study by Fresnoy’s Rules (Tate N00514).3
Verso:
Blank, save for inscriptions: inscribed in pencil ‘8 | l’ near centre; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram and ‘CCXLIV 20’ bottom left.
Elizabeth Jacklin
February 2019
How to cite
Elizabeth Jacklin, ‘Petworth House: The Old Library, with a Man Seated before Sir William Beechey’s Portrait ‘Mrs Hasler as Flora’ 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