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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > History Painting c.1799-1807 > Studies for Pictures Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Group of Supplicating Figures and Dying Horses c.1799-1800

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Group of Supplicating Figures and Dying Horses’ c.1799-1800
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 23 Recto:
A Group of Supplicating Figures and Dying Horses c.1799–1800
D04017
Turner Bequest LXIX 23
Pencil, ink and white chalk on blue laid paper, 135 x 210 mm
Watermark: Strasburg lily (trimmed)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘23’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXIX-23’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch is close in technique to the studies of figures for the story of the Welsh Bards; see folio 18 recto (D04012), and inside the back cover (D04101; Turner Bequest LXIX 87). It may relate to the proposed Biblical ‘Baal’ subject; see folios 20 recto and 21 recto (D04014, D04015). The figures were finally used in the central group of The Fifth Plague of Egypt, exhibited in 1800 (Indianapolis Museum of Art)1. There may also be a connection with The Destruction of Sodom of about 1805 (Tate N00474).2
1
Butlin and Joll 1984, pp.10–12 no.13, pl.10 (colour).
2
Ibid., p.44 no.56, pl.66.
Verso:
Blank

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Group of Supplicating Figures and Dying Horses c.1799–1800 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-group-of-supplicating-figures-and-dying-horses-r1177895, accessed 18 April 2024.