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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Italianate Landscapes and Classical ... > Studies for 'Dido Directing the ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscription not by Turner: The Artist's Name and Address c.1827-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Inscription not by Turner: The Artist's Name and Address’ c.1827-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Inscription not by Turner: The Artist’s Name and Address c.1827–8
D40448
Ink on white wove paper, 190 x 230 mm
Watermark: symmetrical crowned heraldic motif with scrolls and loops
Inscribed in ink ‘J W [sic] Turner Esq | 47 Queen Ann St’ at centre
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The brief form of the address and the lack of postmarks indicate that this sheet originally served as the envelope for a local, hand-delivered letter. It forms the verso of Tate D34861 (Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 372), a compositional study datable to late 1827 or early 1828.
Technical notes:
There are parallel vertical and horizontal folds resulting from the sheet’s original function as an envelope, as noted above; a piece was torn away at the centre of the top edge where it was prised open from the wax seal which survives below. There are other small holes along the creases.

Matthew Imms
July 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Inscription not by Turner: The Artist’s Name and Address c.1827–8 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-inscription-not-by-turner-the-artists-name-and-address-r1185828, accessed 26 April 2024.