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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Nude Studies and Erotica c.1805-24 > Academy Auditing Sketchbook [Finberg ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Group of Figures, Possibly including Satyrs Engaged in Sexual Activity c.1810

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Group of Figures, Possibly including Satyrs Engaged in Sexual Activity’ c.1810
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 29 Recto:
A Group of Figures, Possibly including Satyrs Engaged in Sexual Activity circa 1810
D18508
Turner Bequest CCX a 27
Pencil on white laid writing paper, 115 x 187 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘27’ bottom right (now very faint)
Stamped in black ‘CCX(a) – 27’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As discussed in the introduction, most of the drawings in this book are rapid figure studies, many of which are explicitly erotic; others may be similar in intent, but are difficult to make out, and may be of classical or biblical subjects. Here there appears to be a figure lying at the bottom left, with two or more very fragmentary, dynamic figures above. The undulating quality of the outlines may have suggested the part-animal forms of satyrs or fauns evoked in Finberg’s title. If this was Turner’s intention, the theme seems to be developed on folio 30 recto (D18509; CCX a 28), where the figures may have horns. There appear to be more nymphs and satyrs on folios 35 recto and 36 recto (D18514, D18515; CCX a 33, 34).
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
January 2012

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Group of Figures, Possibly including Satyrs Engaged in Sexual Activity c.1810 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-group-of-figures-possibly-including-satyrs-engaged-in-r1184379, accessed 18 April 2024.