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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Watercolour Daubs 1818-19

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Verso:
Watercolour Daubs 1818–19
D40886
Watercolour on off-white wove paper, 177 x 256 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The daubs of different coloured watercolour at the top right of this page were made while Turner was working on the watercolour sketch of Crichton Castle on folio 5 (D13818; CLXX 4). Although they may just be the result of Turner removing excess paint from his brush, their arrangement on the page suggests that they may have been painted deliberately to test the colours before applying them to the picture. The overlaying of blue and yellow blotches to create a small patch of green and the mixing of blue and red to create mauve or violet-grey may represent experiments in mixing primary colours to create secondary colours, all of which were used in the painting.

Thomas Ardill
August 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Watercolour Daubs 1818–19 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2009, 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-watercolour-daubs-r1132302, accessed 28 March 2024.