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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Liber Studiorum notes c.1807-19 > Aesacus and Hesperie Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Profiles of Hills or Mountains c.1817-19

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Profiles of Hills or Mountains’ c.1817-19
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 38 Recto:
Profiles of Hills or Mountains c.1817–19
D13809
Turner Bequest CLXIX 38
Pencil on white wove paper, 87 x 119 mm
Inscribed by Turner ‘[...]’ left of centre and ‘[...]’ at centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘38’ bottom right (faint and smudged)
Stamped in black ‘CLXIX – 38’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
There are similar jagged, currently unidentified skylines on folio 37 verso opposite (D13808); see also the comparable profiles on folios 5 recto and verso (D13759, D13760). As discussed in the sketchbook’s Introduction, it is possible that they relate to Turner’s 1817 tour along the River Rhine in Germany. Turner’s two inscriptions may be attempts at the same single word, probably a place names, but as yet undeciphered.
Verso:
Blank, save for slight ink offsetting from folio 39 recto opposite (D13810).

Matthew Imms
September 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Profiles of Hills or Mountains c.1817–19 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2013, 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-profiles-of-hills-or-mountains-r1147532, accessed 24 April 2024.