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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Cheshire, Derbyshire, North Wales ... > Tabley No.3 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Historical Notes (Inscriptions by Turner) c.1808-10

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Historical Notes (Inscriptions by Turner)’ c.1808-10
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 91 Verso:
Historical Notes (Inscriptions by Turner) circa 1808–10
D07112
Turner Bequest CV 81a
Inscribed by Turner in ink (see main catalogue entry) on white wove paper, 108 x 185 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s inscription reads:
Suetonius coach used | hanging carroch | Claudius and his Son given the | name of Brittanicus from their first | Expedition to Britain and to | give a proof of the value in which | this island was held even at that | time ... confirmed | and even strengthened invention | at ... additional honors at being | considered not inferior to their | proudest triumphs and splendours | provinces acquired by their arms | and altho it cost them as | many Legions to preserve the Island | yet they did not forsake it but in | their last Extremity, and some | data may be drawn from that | Triumph to elucidate that Brit|ain was considered as Mistress of | the Seas, by her Statue being | surmounted by a naval coronet | and the province given a crown of Gold | Gallia Comata France & Spain ... 16
These notes on the Emperor Claudius refer to the Lives of the Caesars by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. Gallia Comata (‘long-haired Gaul’) comprised much of present-day northern France, Belgium and westernmost Germany. There are further historical notes on folio 90 verso (D07110; Turner Bequest CV 80a)

David Blayney Brown
June 2010

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Historical Notes (Inscriptions by Turner) c.1808–10 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2010, 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-historical-notes-inscriptions-by-turner-r1134647, accessed 19 April 2024.