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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Rokeby and Appleby Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of Female Nude and Hogarth's 'Line of Grace' c.1830-1

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of Female Nude and Hogarth's 'Line of Grace'’ c.1830-1
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 3 Verso:
Study of Female Nude and Hogarth's ‘Line of Grace’ circa 1830–1
D25529
Turner Bequest CCLXIV 3a
Pencil on white wove paper, 94 x 74 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This study of a nude female figure, one of three near the beginning of the sketchbook (see folios 1verso and 2 verso; D25525, D25527), demonstrates Turner’s interest in art theory. As Finberg has noted, the serpentine line to the right of the figure demonstrates Hogarth’s ‘Line of Grace’.1 Turner has either identified the existence of the line in the pose of the figure, or has placed the figure in a pose that follows the line. Ann Chumbley and Ian Warrell have suggested that Turner may have carried out this exercise in preparation for his role as Visitor to the Royal Academy Schools where he supervised the life drawing class in 1830 and 1831.2

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

1
Finberg 1909, vol.II, p.847, CCLXIV 3a.
2
Ann Chumbley and Ian Warrell, Turner and the Human Figure: Studies of Contemporary Life, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1989, p.14.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Study of Female Nude and Hogarth's ‘Line of Grace’ c.1830–1 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 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-study-of-female-nude-and-hogarths-line-of-grace-r1133888, accessed 16 April 2024.