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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscription by Turner: ?A Draft of Poetry c.1807-14

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 24 Recto:
Inscription by Turner: ?A Draft of Poetry c.1807–14
D08319
Turner Bequest CXXII 24
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 69 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘24’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXII – 24’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, Turner has inscribed about ten lines, some of which are barely begun, apparently as a tentative draft of poetry.1 Other than occasional words such as ‘Alas poor’, the fragmentary text is so faded and rubbed as to be effectively illegible.

Matthew Imms
September 2013

1
For the fullest account of such material see Andrew Wilton and Rosalind Mallord Turner, Painting and Poetry: Turner’s ‘Verse Book’ and his Work of 18041812, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1990.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Inscription by Turner: ?A Draft of Poetry c.1807–14 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-a-draft-of-poetry-r1147795, accessed 29 March 2024.