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 ... > Old London Bridge Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?A Sunset c.1823-4

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Sunset’ c.1823-4
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 23 Recto:
?A Sunset c.1823–4
D17878
Turner Bequest CCV 23
Watercolour on white wove paper, 98 x 162 mm
Part watermark ‘182’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘23’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCV – 23’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg described the subject as a ‘Sunset’, though the monochrome treatment and the quietness of the effect, with a rough white disk on the horizon reserved among clouds, might equally represent dawn or the moon; compare folios 21 recto and 22 recto (D17874, D17876). This is one of a sequence of fourteen monochrome, tonal studies of landscapes and cloudy skies running from about the middle of the sketchbook onwards; for the others and further discussion, see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?A Sunset c.1823–4 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 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-sunset-r1172589, accessed 19 April 2024.