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 Verses (Inscription by Turner) circa 1809-11

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Verses (Inscription by Turner)’ circa 1809-11
Folio 53 Recto:
Verses (Inscription by Turner) circa 1809–11
D07676
Turner Bequest CXI 53
Pencil on white wove paper, 88 x 110 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘53’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXI 53’ bottom right
 
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:
Where thy Victorious hand vouchsafed to show
The wonders of thy shaft and golden bow;
When Python from his den was seen to rise
Dire, fierce, tremendous of enormous size;
By thee with many a fatal arrow slain
The Monster sunk extended on the plain
Shaft after shaft in swift succession flew
As swift the people prays in
Shouts and prayers pursue
For verses on the slaughter of the dragon Python by Apollo in this sketchbook, and their background, see chiefly note to folio 17 (D07617).

David Blayney Brown
April 2011

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Verses (Inscription by Turner) c.1809–11’, catalogue entry, April 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/verses-inscription-by-turner-r1131163, accessed 26 April 2024.