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 > Colour Bill Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscription by Another Hand ?and Turner: Notes of Artists' Materials and Prices 1801

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Inscription by Another Hand ?and Turner: Notes of Artists' Materials and Prices’ 1801
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 6 Recto:
Inscription by Another Hand ?and Turner: Notes of Artists’ Materials and Prices 1801
D03741
Turner Bequest LXIII 6
Ink on white laid paper, 158 x 98 mm
Partial watermark ‘17’
Inscribed by ?J. Brown in ink with notes, ?further annotated by Turner (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘6’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LXIII – 6’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The upper half of the page is inscribed in pen and brown ink:
1801 March 19th s d
Large Bladder White 1 ’ – –
hog hair Brush ––– – ’ 8
X Large Varnish Brush X 1 ’ 6
Bladder Rn Ocker ––– – ” 6
6 hard lead pencils ––– 2 –
March 30 Bladder Colours – 1 " 6
1 of Antwerp Bo Gd in Spt 3 " –
Apl 4th ½ Pint EW Turps – 1 – –
Rcd – for J Newman £ ” 11 ” 2
___[?J] Brown________________
‘Not sent’ is inscribed in ink, probably by Turner, to the left of the fourth line, on folio 5 verso opposite (D40807); the ‘X’s marking the entry for the varnish brush are perhaps also his. Otherwise the hand, including the signature on the last line, appears consistent.
This inventory of artists’ materials and the sums paid for them is continued on folio 41 verso (D03777), where much of the list is in the same hand. The ‘J Newman’ referred to here is perhaps the prominent artists’ colourman James Newman (c.1757–1835) who had set up his business at 17 Gerrard Street, London, by 1784, first as a maker of ‘pencils’ (artists’ brushes), and soon afterwards as a dealer in artists’ pigments. Various other colourmen named Newman are recorded in London and its immediate environs during Turner’s lifetime, but it seems likely that Turner patronised James, with premises close to his home in Covent Garden.
Verso:
Blank

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

Revised by Matthew Imms
April 2015

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Inscription by Another Hand ?and Turner: Notes of Artists’ Materials and Prices 1801 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, revised by Matthew Imms, April 2015, 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-inscription-by-another-hand-and-turner-notes-of-artists-r1178439, accessed 26 April 2024.