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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Erotica and Improvisations c.1834-6 > Colour Studies (1) Sketchbook [Finberg ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Curtained Bed, ?with Figures c.1834-6

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Curtained Bed, ?with Figures’ c.1834-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Recto:
A Curtained Bed, ?with Figures c.1834–6
D28801
Turner Bequest CCXCI b 10
Watercolour on white wove paper, 77 x 101 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘10’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXCI(b) – 10’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The masses of the initial watercolour washes have barely been developed here, but by analogy with other such works there may be a hint of a pale figure or figures in a flurry of shadow in the recesses of a curtained bed.
For a discussion of the improvisatory and often erotic nature of the watercolour studies making up most of this sketchbook, see the Introduction.
Technical notes:
There is some offsetting of watercolour from the top and bottom left onto the page of notes on folio 9 verso opposite (D28800).
Verso:
Blank, save for slight offsetting and very slight continuation of watercolour from folio 11 recto opposite (D28802).

Matthew Imms
May 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Curtained Bed, ?with Figures c.1834–6 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-curtained-bed-with-figures-r1149031, accessed 24 November 2024.