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 Domenichino's 'Hercules and Cacus' (Inscription by Turner) 1802

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Commentary on Domenichino's 'Hercules and Cacus' (Inscription by Turner)’ 1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 76 Recto:
Commentary on Domenichino’s ‘Hercules and Cacus’ (Inscription by Turner) 1802
D04372
Turner Bequest LXXII 76
Inscribed by Turner in black ink (see main catalogue entry), on white wove paper prepared with a grey wash, 128 x 114 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘76’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LXXII–76’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
For Turner and Domenichino in the Louvre, see especially folio 75 verso of this sketchbook (D04371), his copy of the Hercules and Cacus. In his notes on the picture, Turner confused it with its companion, Hercules and Achelous, of which however he made separate notes on the verso of this leaf (DO4373).
Turner’s comments here read:
This by Dominicino [Finberg: Dominicio] Hercules & Achelous | Grand as to composition The lights and shade broad but of one surface as the | whole background hill is all of one tone | generally The trees below somewhat lighter | and diversify’d but the large tree is of the | same tone as the hill therefore I think | although of a fine rich or deep tone yet | the picture is monotonous. The figures are | not sufficiently diversify’d as to colour | or to create any interest but are | rather so many pieces of half light and | Achelous is miserably drawn although fine as to | disposition. Likewise Hercules. The sky plain | but of a fine tone.

David Blayney Brown
July 2005

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Commentary on Domenichino’s ‘Hercules and Cacus’ (Inscription 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-domenichinos-hercules-and-cacus-inscription-by-r1129781, accessed 23 September 2024.