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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Work for Earls Egremont and Lonsdale ... > Lowther Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) 1809

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Verses (Inscriptions by Turner)’ 1809
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 18 Recto:
Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) 1809
D07881
Turner Bequest CXIII 18
Inscribed by Turner in pencil (see main catalogue entry) on white wove paper, 114 x 83 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin ‘18’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXIII 18’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These verses were first transcribed by Rosalind Mallord Turner, whose reading is followed here:
Ah why unfortunate victim to my zeal
To prove myself a shooter didst thou wheel
High oer his head thy birds plumage young
Not griefull thou he wish thy song
That sounds so like to jealous ears
Dishonoured home succession [all waken his tears inserted]
But circling round his yellow eye
He doomed thy...to die
This passage belongs to a longer poem about a shooting accident, for which see Introduction to the sketchbook and note to folio 13 verso (D07873).
Verso:
Blank

David Blayney Brown
July 2009

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) 1809 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 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-verses-inscriptions-by-turner-r1135836, accessed 26 April 2024.