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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Royal Academy c.1789-99 > Drawings from the Nude Model > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Seated Male Nude with a Staff and with Right Arm on Head, in a Landscape Setting c.1794-5

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Seated Male Nude with a Staff and with Right Arm on Head, in a Landscape Setting’ c.1794-5
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
A Seated Male Nude with a Staff and with Right Arm on Head, in a Landscape Setting c.1794–5
D00198
Turner Bequest XVIII C
Black, white and red chalks with stump on buff-grey paper, 463 x 296 mm
Inscribed by Turner in black chalk ‘WT 11’ lower left
Inscribed in red ink ‘XVIII C’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘XVIII C’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The model for this drawing is in exactly the same pose as that in a study in pen and ink by James Barry (1741–1806) purchased by the Royal Academy in 1844 (R A 04/496). The viewpoint is so similar that, unless Turner actually copied Barry’s drawing, the two artists must have been sitting close together during the class. Barry was a visitor at the Life Class in both 1794 and 1795. There is an offset of this drawing on Tate D00197 (Turner Bequest XVIII B). A similar monogram appears on Tate D00199 and D00200 (Turner Bequest XVIII D, E); slightly different monograms occur on Tate D00203 and D00205 (Turner Bequest XVIII H, J).
Verso:
Blank; inscribed in pencil, in a modern hand: ‘2’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Seated Male Nude with a Staff and with Right Arm on Head, in a Landscape Setting c.1794–5 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-seated-male-nude-with-a-staff-and-with-right-arm-on-head-r1140215, accessed 17 November 2024.