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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Perspective lectures c.1809-28 > II. Various Perspective Diagrams > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Lecture Diagram: Crucified Figure within a Triangle c.1812-28

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lecture Diagram: Crucified Figure within a Triangle’ c.1812-28
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Lecture Diagram: Crucified Figure within a Triangle circa 1812–28
D17138
Turner Bequest CXCV 167
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 585 x 713 mm
Watermarked ‘J WHATMAN | 1812’
Inscribed by Ruskin in red ink ‘167’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Made in connection with Turner’s lectures as Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy, this diagram of a crucified figure within a triangle appears related to a group of drawings illustrating the ways in which geometry enters into art (Tate D17137 and [verso] 40014, D17139; Tate CXCV 166, 168). See note to D17139 for their probable function as supplements to Lecture 1 and date after 1812.
Technical notes:
Peter Bower writes that the sheet is Elephant size Whatman paper made by William Balston, at Springfield Mill, Maidstone, Kent.1
1
Notes in Tate catalogue files.
Verso:
Blank, save for an inscription by an unknown hand in pencil ‘161’ bottom left.

Andrea Fredericksen
June 2004

Supported by The Samuel H. Kress Foundation

Revised by David Blayney Brown
January 2012

How to cite

Andrea Fredericksen, ‘Lecture Diagram: Crucified Figure within a Triangle c.1812–28 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2004, revised by David Blayney Brown, January 2012, 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-lecture-diagram-crucified-figure-within-a-triangle-r1136769, accessed 26 April 2024.