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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Thames sketchbooks c.1804-14 > Windsor and Eton Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Verses (Inscription by Turner) c.1806

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Verses (Inscription by Turner)’ c.1806
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 83 Recto:
Verses (Inscription by Turner) circa 1806
D06164
Turner Bequest XCVII 83
Inscribed (see main catalogue entry) by Turner in pencil on white wove paper, 107 x 182 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘83’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘XCVII 82’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Written with the sketchbook inverted. Only partly published by Finberg, Turner’s verses were transcribed in full by Rosalind Mallord Turner, whose reading is followed here;
Discord dire Sister of Etherial Jove
Coeval – hostile even to heavenly love
[By envy deleted] stung unasked the feast to share
[For Psyche deleted] marriage
unasked at Psyche marriage feast to share
Stung with revenge and envious of the fair
Fierce as the noxious blast of wintry skies
Rushed oer the vales where Hesperean Gardens rise
A longer version of this passage is on the verso (D06165), for which see catalogue note for discussion.

David Blayney Brown
September 2008

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Verses (Inscription by Turner) c.1806 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2008, 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-verses-inscription-by-turner-r1130345, accessed 26 April 2024.