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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscriptions; and Female Figure 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Inscriptions; and Female Figure’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 62 Recto:
Inscriptions; and Female Figure 1831
D25754
Turner Bequest CCLXV 62
Pen and ink and pencil on white wove paper, 96 x 59 mm
Inscribed in black ink by Turner ‘3 1/2, 304 – 5 8 | Con 9751 – 116’ and in pencil below ‘Ln 10, a year’
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘62’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXV 62’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The obscure numbers inscribed by Turner in black ink and pencil seem to be financial and may represent cheque numbers (there are similar looking figures on folio 43 verso; D25721). With the sketchbook turned to the left at the bottom of the page is a figure in a strange bending pose, perhaps reclining on a sofa or chaise longues. The pose recalls that of Turner’s unfinished Reclining Venus 1828 (Tate N05498).1 For references to other female figures sketches see folio 56 verso (D25744).
Overlapping the figure and to its right are continuations from two landscape sketches on folio 61 verso (D25853).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.174–5 no.296.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Inscriptions; and Female Figure 1831 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-inscriptions-and-female-figure-r1134118, accessed 25 April 2024.