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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Midlands 1794-1802 > Watercolours Including Midland Subjects > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Transparency: A Moss-Covered Cottage and Shed, with a Man Smoking and a Lantern 1794-5

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Transparency: A Moss-Covered Cottage and Shed, with a Man Smoking and a Lantern’ 1794-5
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
A Transparency: A Moss-Covered Cottage and Shed, with a Man Smoking and a Lantern 1794–5
D40335
Watercolour and oil on white wove paper, 331 x 235 mm
This shows the same scene as on recto (D00693; Turner Bequest XXVIII H) in reverse, painted in black, indigo and umber, with a sunset effect in the sky.
Technical notes:
This side of the sheet bears washes intended by Turner to enhance the tonal contrasts of his watercolour design on the recto. Bower notes that Turner does not adopt the usual practice in making transparencies, enhancing the translucency of the paper by applications of varnish; he says that ‘there are slight indications that the paper has been oiled lightly’.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Transparency: A Moss-Covered Cottage and Shed, with a Man Smoking and a Lantern 1794–5 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-a-transparency-a-moss-covered-cottage-and-shed-with-a-man-r1141111, accessed 25 April 2024.