This was originally drawn on the same sheet as
Study for ‘Harvest Home’ (Tate
D08216; Turner Bequest CXX C) and
Study for ‘Cassiobury Park; Reaping’ (Tate
D08217; Turner Bequest CXX D); the top edge aligns with that of
D08217 and the post horn watermark is split between the two portions. Finberg thought this drawing might be a ‘design for a “Liber” subject’, referring to Turner’s manual of landscape types, the
Liber Studiorum. However the freely drawn and brushed technique and harvesting subject matter is clearly related to the reaping scene, one of two studies for unfinished oils of the harvest at Lord Essex’s Hertforshire estate, Cassiobury Park;
1 see catalogue entry for
D08216 for background and the possible reasons for Turner having abandoned the pictures. The composition is probably based on the on-the-spot sketch of a wagon and figures in a landscape on folio 54 of the
River sketchbook (Tate
D06028; Turner Bequest XCVI 53), which was used at Cassiobury. The present drawing also formed the basis of an oil, hitherto known as
Gipsy Camp but also a harvest scene with wagon and reapers and perhaps a variant Cassiobury subject (Tate
N03048),
2 which indeed Butlin and Joll compared to the painted version of
Cassiobury Park; Reaping though they were unaware of its connection with this related drawing. The oil is either a sketch or unfinished, and is of upright format, either because the drawn composition was deliberately condensed or because the support, an oak panel, has been cut down.
