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.

While Turner’s studies of Petworth’s grand interior take in numerous rooms in the house, the White Library is depicted more than any other. We see it through Turner’s eyes, both as a rich interior space, as here, and as a setting for social interaction. The room was used as a sitting room both before and after dinner, and appears from Turner’s studies to have been the house’s social hub.1 In the present publication, seventeen studies are considered certainly or almost certainly views of this room: Tate D22684, D22686, D22688, D22693, D22695, D22699, D22701–D22702, D22742–D22743, D22746, D22748–D22749, D22752, D22754, D22758 and D22763 (Turner Bequest CCXLIV 22, 24 26, 31, 33, 37, 39–40, 80–81, 84, 86–87, 90, 92, 96 and 101). A further seven are less distinct, but probably also show the White Library, which they have previously been linked to.2 These are: (Tate D22700, D22703, D22706, D22709, D22713, D22740, D22755; Turner Bequest CCXLIV 38, 41, 44, 47, 51, 78, 93).

This, Turner’s most detailed depiction of the room, recollects the detailed studies he had made of Farnley Hall, the home of his patron Walter Fawkes, in the previous decade: see for example, his depiction of Farnley’s library (private collection).3 Only a few of the Petworth interiors are as detailed as the present study (for a list of the others, see the Introduction to this subsection): the ceiling and cornicing, paintings and furniture are all depicted with keen interest. The viewpoint is across the library, towards the North Gallery. The fortepiano seen towards the middle of the sheet reappears in other studies catalogued in this section (see, for example, Tate D22752; Turner Bequest CCXLIV 90).4 The white bookcases, represented using grid-like marks that are echoed more loosely in other, less detailed studies of the room, were installed by Matthew Brettingham the Younger (1725–1803) in the 1770s to house the extensive book collection.5

Christopher Rowell has established that the picture hang is largely the same as that detailed on the 1837 inventory and some diagrams of 1839–42, with William Beechey’s Frances Wyndham as Hebe (Petworth collection) above the door, and the same series of small framed paintings by artists including David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690) above the bookshelves.6 The exception is the over mantel painting, which in Turner’s gouache is an upright composition, rather than the landscape recorded in the inventory.7 Turner’s depiction of the picture is indistinct, but could suggest a couple of oils in the Petworth collections over others. John Closterman’s portrait of Charles Seymour, 6^th Duke of Somerset shares the sweeping archway seen against a blue sky, as well as a crimson garment, while Henry Thomson’s Prospero and Miranda (Egremont Collection) also shares elements of colour and composition with Turner’s sketchy portrayal.

The verso (D40549) bears a slight pencil sketch of Petworth Church.