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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Isle of Wight 1827 > The House and Grounds at East Cowes ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner East Cowes Castle from the South-West, with Figures among Trees 1827

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘East Cowes Castle from the South-West, with Figures among Trees’ 1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
East Cowes Castle from the South-West, with Figures among Trees 1827
D20837
Turner Bequest CCXXVII a 34
Chalk and ink on blue wove paper, 192 x 139 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘34’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXVII(a) 34’ bottom left, descending vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
From the woods south-west of East Cowes Castle, the octagonal tower and adjoining arcaded conservatory to its south-east glimmer on the skyline. In the middle distance there appear to be two upright figures walking, while in the left foreground a woman and a less clearly defined companion are seated. They are of the sort Finberg dubbed ‘lovers’ here and in similar studies;1 see under Tate D20809 (Turner Bequest CCXXVII a 6) for other examples.
In its general arrangement of foreground figures and a distant white tower through trees, this drawing can also be associated with the painting Boccaccio Relating the Tale of the Birdcage, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1828 (Tate N00507);2 see under D20844 (CCXXVII a 41) for the subject and similar studies.
This is among dozens of blue paper studies made in and around East Cowes Castle, presumably in the course of a single visit. For more on the various aspects of the house (demolished in about 1950), and its lost grounds as depicted by Turner, see the Introduction to this subsection.
1
See Finberg 1909, II, p.701.
2
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.151–2 no.244, pl.245 (colour); the present drawing is noted ibid., p.151.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘CCVII.a.44 [sic] | Box 97’ top right, ascending vertically.

Matthew Imms
November 2015

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘East Cowes Castle from the South-West, with Figures among Trees 1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-east-cowes-castle-from-the-south-west-with-figures-among-r1182700, accessed 20 September 2024.