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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Landscape Studies at Sunset or Sunrise c.1823-4

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Inside Front Cover:
Landscape Studies at Sunset or Sunrise c.1823–4
D40982
Pencil on white wove paper, 190 x 111 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil with notes and calculations (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by the Executors of the Turner Bequest in ink and pencil (see main catalogue entry)
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Inscribed in pencil ‘CCIV’ towards bottom left, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCIV’ bottom left, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg described the drawings here and those inside the back cover (D40983) as ‘various slight pencil sketches of river scenery, &c.’,1 though there appears to be no direct indication of a river in the two sketches, separated by horizontal pencil lines, which occupy the upper half of this paste-down, turned vertically. There is a vertical series of annotated sky studies on folio 1 recto opposite (D17773), so these two ‘below’ them are likely to be part of the same sequence.
The upper view, taking up about a third of the page, shows a sky with a few clouds, with trees and perhaps buildings on the horizon. There are colour notes of ‘Pink’, ‘Orange [...]’ and ‘orp’ for orpiment, a deep yellow, indicating a sky at sunset or sunrise. To the left may be ‘[?Spring Corn]’, with notes below which appear to relate to the foreground: ‘[?P]’ and, reading very tentatively, ‘[... ?high turn out Tu... with ?Sto... | and gown]’. The latter might indicate some ceremonial occasion. The second sketch focuses on the hatched silhouette of a castle or church tower, possibly among trees, with the sun immediately to its right, emitting rays.
There are other sky and cloud studies on folios 1 recto opposite, 2 recto, 18 verso, 26 recto, 33 recto and verso, 36 verso, 39 verso, 41 verso and inside the back cover (D17773, D17775, D17796, D17805, D17816, D17817, D17824, D17829, D17833, D40983).
At the bottom left are calculations which Turner made with the page held horizontally. There being twenty shillings to a pound, the initial sum appears to be financial, and the whole is a typically ad hoc note of as yet undetermined significance:
   94,  10
   17    17
112       7    –     135 -
  56 -                    56
         [?10 for] 79 for 8
The remaining quadrant of the page is occupied by the Turner Bequest executors’ ink endorsement, again inscribed with the page horizontal. The main inscription is all in the hand of Charles Turner: ‘No 322 Contains 25 | Leaves in Pencil & Chalk | C Turner’. Below are the respective pencil initials, ‘JPK’ and ‘C.L.E.’, of John Prescott Knight and Charles Lock Eastlake.

Matthew Imms
November 2014

1
Finberg 1909, I, p.618.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Landscape Studies at Sunset or Sunrise c.1823–4 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-landscape-studies-at-sunset-or-sunrise-r1172480, accessed 28 March 2024.