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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Ports of England c.1822-8 > 'Ports of England' Studies > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscriptions by G. Cooke date not known

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Inscriptions by G. Cooke’ date not known
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Inscriptions by G. Cooke
D40147
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 270 v
Pencil on lightweight writing paper, 229 x 187 mm
Watermarked ‘1824’
Inscribed in pencil by G. Cooke with letter (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed in pencil ‘CCLXIII 27[...]’ bottom right
A note by the engraver George Cooke (1781–1834) appears on this, the verso of Brighton; the Shore Looking West (Tate D25393; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 270). It is transcribed as follows:
 Dr Sir 
     Have the goodness to sign the | Enclosed in Mr Clark’s Note & | send it pr.  
 post before 8 tomorrow  | morning. 
                                          Yours truly 
                                             G.Cooke 
                                          Thursday Evg. 
George Cooke was the brother of the engraver and publisher William Bernard Cooke, Turner’s collaborator on the Southern Coast (1816–20), Rivers of England (1823–7) and Marine Views (1824–5) print series. The Yale Prints and Drawings Curator Gillian Forrester writes that George Cooke ‘produced some twenty line engravings after Turner between 1813 and 1826’ though he is ‘chiefly known for his engravings for Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast of England (1814–26)’, a collaboration between both Cooke brothers and Turner.1

Alice Rylance-Watson
March 2013

1
Evelyn Joll, Martin Butlin and Luke Herrmann (eds.), The Oxford Companion to J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 2001, p.63

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Inscriptions by G. Cooke by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 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-inscriptions-by-g-cooke-r1148233, accessed 04 November 2025.