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 > Calais Pier Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Supine Male Nude, Seen Foreshortened c.1799-1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Supine Male Nude, Seen Foreshortened’ c.1799-1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Recto:
A Supine Male Nude, Seen Foreshortened c.1799–1805
D04922
Turner Bequest LXXXI 21
White chalk on blue laid paper, 271 x 436 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ and ‘VI’
Inscribed in pencil ‘21’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–21’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Other academy studies in white chalk alone are on folios 6 recto and 7 recto (D04912, D04914; Turner Bequest LXXXI 11, 13). A more substantial drawing of the same figure is on folio 12 recto (D04924; Turner Bequest LXXXI 23), and another very similar is on folio 16 recto (D04932; Turner Bequest LXXXI 31). The pose may have been used for the painting The Destruction of Sodom, of about 1805 (Tate N00474);1 see under folio 3 recto (D04906; Turner Bequest LXXXI 5).
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.44 no.56, pl.66.
Technical notes:
Much of the page, including the subject, is covered with large colour trials.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Supine Male Nude, Seen Foreshortened c.1799–1805 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-supine-male-nude-seen-foreshortened-r1178126, accessed 23 April 2024.