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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > East Sussex c.1806-20 > Hastings Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Verse (Inscription by Turner) circa 1809-11

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Verse (Inscription by Turner)’ circa 1809-11
Folio 76 Verso:
Verse (Inscription by Turner) circa 1809–11
D07713
Turner Bequest CXI 76a
Pen and ink on white wove paper, 110 x 88 mm
Inscribed by Turner ink (see main catalogue entry)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Rosalind Mallord Turner’s reading of Turner’s inscription for the 1990 Tate exhibition is largely followed here:
Here placed in dust
Lieth
Here in silent dust
    Placed and just
Plac’d in life as now his dust
Who felt the anguish pain
Yet left this world without a stain
Of Mammon, threat, or narrow soul
Virtue’s self here held controul
This short passage seems to be related to others in this sketchbook with a similar valedictory tone, for example on folio 66 verso (D07698).

David Blayney Brown
May 2011

2 leaves torn out

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Verse (Inscription by Turner) c.1809–11’, catalogue entry, May 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/verse-inscription-by-turner-r1131200, accessed 07 April 2026.