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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Farnley Hall and Yorkshire c.1808-24 > Woodcock Shooting Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study for a Classical Picture, Possibly Related to 'Crossing the Brook' c.1812-13

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for a Classical Picture, Possibly Related to 'Crossing the Brook'’ c.1812-13
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 36 Recto:
Study for a Classical Picture, Possibly Related to ‘Crossing the Brook’ c.1812–13
D09110
Turner Bequest CXXIX 36
Ink on white wove paper, 178 x 110 mm
Trace of inscription by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘36 [?]’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in brown ‘CXXIX 36’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The relationship between this composition and Crossing the Brook (Tate N00497)1 exhibited in 1815 does not seem to have been previously noticed. With the angular blocks of masonry in the left foreground, tall trees and bridge in the left middle distance, it perhaps more closely resembles the painting than folio 52 recto (D09129), below, which has been equated with the painting.
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.93–4 no.130, pl.123.
Verso:
Blank, except for some splashes of ink offset from the drawing on folio 37 recto (D09111), opposite.

David Hill
October 2008

How to cite

David Hill, ‘Study for a Classical Picture, Possibly Related to ‘Crossing the Brook’ c.1812–13 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-study-for-a-classical-picture-possibly-related-to-crossing-r1146832, accessed 20 April 2024.