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 Wooded River Scenes; a Study of a Sunset Sky c.1823-4

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Wooded River Scenes; a Study of a Sunset Sky’ c.1823-4
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Verso:
Wooded River Scenes; a Study of a Sunset Sky c.1823–4
D17833
Turner Bequest CCIV 41a
Pencil on white wove paper, 190 x 111 mm
Part watermark ‘R Bar | 18’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[...]’ bottom centre, ‘Gr[...]’ towards bottom right, and ‘orange [?July] cloud’, ‘Grey’ and ‘Blood Red and T[...] of Light’ towards bottom, all upside down
Inscribed in an unknown hand ‘2’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, there are three wooded scenes, separated by roughly horizontal pencil lines. The first includes a large building or group of buildings, possibly in ruins, and the third shows what appears to be a house with the outlines of other buildings. The second study includes a strongly silhouetted shape, probably of a figure in a boat or punt, suggesting that all three views are on a river, probably the Thames; see under folio 2 recto (D17775).
Inverted relative to these towards the gutter is an annotated study of billowing clouds above trees and a vertical feature which may be the mast of a boat. The ‘orange’ and ‘Blood Red’ notes suggest a sunset scene. For other sky studies in this book, see the entry for the inside of the front cover (D40982). There are further landscape and sky studies inside the back cover opposite (D40983).

Matthew Imms
November 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Wooded River Scenes; a Study of a Sunset Sky 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-wooded-river-scenes-a-study-of-a-sunset-sky-r1172540, accessed 23 April 2024.