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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscription by Turner: Notes of Royal Academy Business 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 39 Recto:
Inscription by Turner: Notes of Royal Academy Business 1819
D13810
Turner Bequest CLXIX 39
Pen and ink on white wove paper, 119 x 87 mm
Inscribed by Turner in ink (main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘39’ top right, ascending vertically (faint and smudged)
Stamped in black ‘CLXIX – 39’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turned vertically, the whole page is taken up by the following notes:
      Second Council, Jany. 20 1819. 
      Read the Minutes 
      Mr Nixon. request granted to draw 
      Mr Vaughan Letter. 
      Address. to the P. Regent sent to Ld Sidmouth.  
      Bishop of London answer 
      Mr Lysons ditto.  
      Louis Sailliard. Letter.     10£ by Mr Flaxman 
      Stuart, not            Rolls. – not ++ past 
      Jukes – not            Engleheart. Not ++ 
      Watson – not           Conquest. not 
      Boxall. Past           Hearn not 
      Thurston. past         Cartwright not 
      Lance + past not       Sandifort past 
      Hilton... not          Wilkinson   past.  
      Mazey – not            Pastorini. not. not 
      Wood. – past           Holls + not 
      Fancourt Past          [?Henings.] + 
      Cramption not          Henings. [...] XV 
      Slous. – past.         Marshall. not – 
 
      Mr [?Evans] and Mr [???Hodington] to add a [?Book] | or 2: at the door of the Library 
After publishing Turner’s notes in his 1909 Turner Inventory, Finberg made manuscript transcriptions from the relevant passages of Royal Academy Council minutes for 12 January 1819;1 the following notes are closely based on Finberg’s, with some additional information interpolated. The sculptor John Flaxman chaired the meeting. A letter from the Rev. R. Nixon was read, requesting permission to draw in the Academy Schools for another year. Another, from Thomas Vaughan, returned thanks for a donation (see also folio 40 recto; D13812). It was noted that an Address of Condolence, as voted for previously, had been forwarded to the Prince Regent (later George IV), via Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary (presumably in relation to the death of the Prince’s daughter Princess Charlotte Augusta in 1817). William Howley, the Bishop of London, wrote to accept the Academy’s Professorship of Ancient Literature. Lyson’s letter is not mentioned in detail. Louis Salliart (sic), an engraver and former Royal Academy student, had requested assistance, and Flaxman agreed to advance ten pounds.
There follows a list of students admitted as Probationers: William Boxall, John Wood, Edward Fancourt, J. Sandiford, B. Wilkinson, N.G. Slous, C. Rolls, G. Lance, Edward Malo, W. Harris (‘to bring a character’), W.J. Booth, J. Robson, Ambrose Poynter, W.J. Watson and J. Thurston. H.J. Wilson, F. Catherwood (Turner appears to write ‘Cartwright’), F. Mordaunt, G. Hargreaves, B. Fancourt, J. Worgan (Finberg’s apparent reading) and H. Ashton were rejected. There seem to be some discrepancies with Turner’s list, possibly owing to the latter’s handwriting and spelling. William Long was admitted to the Life Class, and William McCall to the Painting School. Meanwhile, more bookcases were proposed for the Academy’s library.
There are similar notes on folio 40 recto (D13812), and others which relate to the Academy’s annual exhibition in the spring of 1819 towards the beginning of the sketchbook (see under folio 4 recto; D13757). See the Old London Bridge sketchbook for notes of other 1819 Academy business (Tate D17843–D17844; Turner Bequest CCV 5a, 6).

Matthew Imms
September 2013

1
Undated MS transcriptions in Finberg’s own interleaved copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, vol.I, facing p.492.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Inscription by Turner: Notes of Royal Academy Business 1819 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-inscription-by-turner-notes-of-royal-academy-business-r1147533, accessed 29 March 2024.