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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Isle of Wight 1827 > Cowes Regatta Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner An Interior with Figures, Possibly in a London Hall or Church 1827

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘An Interior with Figures, Possibly in a London Hall or Church’ 1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 3 Recto:
An Interior with Figures, Possibly in a London Hall or Church 1827
D17995
Turner Bequest CCVII 3
Pencil on white wove paper, 74 x 100 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Rd’ right of centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘3’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCVII – 3’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg suggested that this somewhat chaotic, rapid sketch possibly shows ‘a Banquet at the Mansion House’,1 meaning the neo-classical, so-called Egyptian Hall at the Lord Mayor of London’s official residence,2 but there seems to be no great resemblance, as the looping forms at the top corners suggest arches rather than a colonnade; the circles above the centre presumably indicate chandeliers. The large object on the right resembles a pulpit, and the setting may be a London church or other grand interior. See also folios 5 recto and 7 recto (D17998, D18002).

Matthew Imms
December 2014

1
Finberg 1909, I, p.625.
2
See ‘Inside the Mansion House’, City of London, accessed 15 December 2014, http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-the-city/history-and-heritage/mansion-house/Pages/inside-the-mansion-house.aspx.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘An Interior with Figures, Possibly in a London Hall or Church 1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-an-interior-with-figures-possibly-in-a-london-hall-or-church-r1183483, accessed 21 November 2024.