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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Switzerland 1802 > Studies in the Louvre Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Commentary on Guercino's 'Mars and Venus' and 'Virgin and Child' (Inscriptions by Turner) 1802

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Commentary on Guercino's 'Mars and Venus' and 'Virgin and Child' (Inscriptions by Turner)’ 1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 36 Verso:
Commentary on Guercino’s ‘Mars and Venus’ and ‘Virgin and Child’ (Inscriptions by Turner) 1802
D04321
Turner Bequest LXXII 36a
Inscribed by Turner in black ink (see D04320, and below), on white wove paper prepared with a reddish brown wash, 128 x 114 mm
Stamped in black ‘LXXII–36a’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
For Guercino’s Mars and Venus – thought by Turner to be by Domenichino – and Turner’s copy see folio 35 of this sketchbook (D04319). Here Turner concluded his remarks on the picture begun on the recto of this leaf (D04320, for which see catalogue entry for a transcription), before continuing with further commentary on a Virgin and Child, also by Guercino, which he copied, with further colour notes, on folio 37 (D04322). His remarks on the latter picture read:
The Virgin and Child | Here the characters are poor, the Child assuming a graven air by the turn of the Head and raising | of the fingers, but without grace or meekness | or sensibility; The mother is rather inanimate and | listless, and attempts at attention and | adoration of his supposed sagacity. The tone | of this is rich and flesh produced by less of the | U in the half-tone of the flesh and depending | more upon the ground. The reflection warmer | and the glazing Brown to right more over the | whole, but the ground is much warmer than the foregoing picture.

David Blayney Brown
July 2005

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Commentary on Guercino’s ‘Mars and Venus’ and ‘Virgin and Child’ (Inscriptions by Turner) 1802 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2005, 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/joseph-mallord-william-turner-commentary-on-guercinos-mars-and-venus-and-virgin-and-child-r1129730, accessed 26 April 2024.