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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner Petworth House: The White Library, with a Man in Red Uniform 1827

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Petworth House: The White Library, with a Man in Red Uniform’ 1827
Petworth House: The White Library, with a Man in Red Uniform 1827
D22684
Turner Bequest CCXLIV 22
Gouache and watercolour on blue wove paper, 143 x 190 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCXLIV 22’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
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.
The setting for this scene is Petworth’s White Library, a well-used 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). It has been speculated that the figure in red uniform is one of Lord Egremont’s military sons: George (1787–1869), Henry (1790–1860) or Charles (1796–1866).1 Christopher Rowell argued that while George was certainly at Petworth in November 1827, he was a little old to be the figure captured in Turner’s sketch, who more likely represents Henry or Charles.2 The figure does seem to suggest youthfulness: he has a full head of brown hair and perhaps also a certain swagger to his stance. Behind him various other figures are shown seated, indicating the White Library’s role as a social space in the house.
For another study of the room including figures in what appears to be red uniform, see D22693 (Turner Bequest CCXLIV 31).
1
Rowell, Warrell and Brown 2002, p.111.
2
Ibid, p.111.
Verso:
Blank, save for inscriptions: inscribed in pencil ‘9 l’ near centre, ‘485’ bottom left and ‘ccxliv 22’ bottom right; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram and ‘CCXLIV 22’ bottom left.
Elizabeth Jacklin

How to cite

‘Petworth House: The White Library, with a Man in Red Uniform 1827’, catalogue entry, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2024, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/petworth-house-the-white-library-with-a-man-in-red-uniform-r1209117, accessed 07 June 2026.