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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Margate, London and Surrey c.1829-45 > Marine Dabblers Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Half-Length Figure in Armour, Possibly from a Painting c.1829-30

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Half-Length Figure in Armour, Possibly from a Painting’ c.1829-30
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Recto:
A Half-Length Figure in Armour, Possibly from a Painting c.1829–30
D22463
Turner Bequest CCXLI 1
Pencil on gilt-edged mauve wove paper, 113 x 89 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘1’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXLI – 1’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This rather faint, slight sketch is difficult to make out, but does appear to how a man in armour, as Finberg suggested.1 There seem to be a hanging or curtain at the left and shadows beyond the figure to the right. The horizontal line about a fifth of the way up from the bottom of the page frames the image, and may indicate that Turner was copying an existing source such as a painting or engraving.
1
Finberg 1909, II, p.741.
Technical notes:
The page is somewhat stained by proximity to the leather overlaps from the front cover and the acidic board under the front pastedown opposite (D41105).

Matthew Imms
May 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Half-Length Figure in Armour, Possibly from a Painting c.1829–30 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-half-length-figure-in-armour-possibly-from-a-painting-r1148355, accessed 20 May 2024.