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 > Liber Notes (2) Sketchbook [Finberg CLIV ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of a Cloudy Sky c.1808-18

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of a Cloudy Sky’ c.1808-18
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 69 Recto:
Study of a Cloudy Sky c.1808–18
D12221
Turner Bequest CLIV a 68
Pencil on white wove paper, 89 x 112 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘68’ top left, upside down (smudged)
Stamped in black ‘CLIV (a) – 68’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As set out under folio 7 verso (D12134), there are nearly thirty pages of cloud studies in this sketchbook, some, as here, being annotated with colours and other observations. Turner has annotated the present drawing, inverted relative to the foliation, at various points with words and phrases: ‘Light clouds’, ‘Blue’, ‘Blue’, ‘yellow’, ‘Blue’, ‘Red’. There are also the numerals ‘1’, ‘2’ and ‘3’ in succession, with ‘4’ on the very brief continuation on folio 68 verso opposite (D12220; CLIV a 67a), with detailed footnotes along the bottom of the page: ‘1 the Light Clouds 2 Light [?thunder] with purple Light | in contrast with blue dark grey in contrast with | Light clouds yet warm in [...] light 3 [...] | [...] Dark 4 [...] light grey [...] | [...] warm by contrast’.

Matthew Imms
September 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Study of a Cloudy Sky c.1808–18 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-study-of-a-cloudy-sky-r1147638, accessed 20 April 2024.