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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Thames, London and South of England 1821 ... > River Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Sky Study c.1823-4

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Sky Study’ c.1823-4
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 39 Verso:
A Sky Study c.1823–4
D17829
Turner Bequest CCIV 39a
Pencil on white wove paper, 190 x 111 mm
Part watermark ‘R Bar | 18’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Sky all grey’ top left and ‘all grey [?Dun] w yellow [...] | Greenish Light’ towards top right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, Turner has used the upper third of the page for a study of the sky, centred on a disk, presumably the sun. The rough hatching and other loose marks around it are difficult to interpret, but appear to be a combination of clouds, rain and possibly trees. Turner’s brief pictorial note is augmented by typical colour annotations.
For other sky studies in this book, see the entry for the inside of the front cover (D40982).
Technical notes:
The drawing is a little disrupted by offsetting from the chalk and wash studies on folio 40 recto opposite (D17830).

Matthew Imms
November 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Sky Study 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-a-sky-study-r1172536, accessed 25 April 2024.