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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Milan to Venice Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Figure and Costume Studies; Hills with Distant Buildings, Possibly Including a View of Chiari 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Figure and Costume Studies; Hills with Distant Buildings, Possibly Including a View of Chiari’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 30 Recto:
Figure and Costume Studies; Hills with Distant Buildings, Possibly Including a View of Chiari 1819
D14371
Turner Bequest CLXXV 30
Pencil on white wove paper, 185 x 112 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Sidiolli]’ and ‘[?Chaira]’ top right, ‘the Hair [?plats ...] a Hat and | [...] Straw’ towards top left, ‘[...] of Green’ centre left, ‘Brown’ and ‘Men straw Hat and | other Caps stripd blue’ centre right and ‘R’ at centre, on and around figures, ‘[?Montagnio]’ below right of centre, and ‘[?Prigolla]’ bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘30’ top left, ascending vertically and ‘300’ top right ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CLXXV 30’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The various landscape and figure studies here were all made with the page turned vertically. Finberg subsequently annotated his 1909 Inventory entry (‘Various figures and landscapes. “Chiara,” &c.’): ‘“Sidiolli Chiasa. [?Abria] lagato Prigolla”. Chiara, btwn Milan & Brescia’.1 Chiari (sic) indeed lies between the two cities on Turner’s route (see respectively under folios 2 recto and 19 recto; D14328, D14352), leaving this study somewhat out of sequence if the reading is correct. The other apparent place names, written rather shakily and likely while in motion, have so far eluded clear identification.
The annotated figure and head studies seem to represent women only, although several hats are accompanied with a note on men’s styles. For other figure studies in this sketchbook, see under folio 18 verso (D14351). The very slight drawing at the top left may show a wagon and animals.
1
Undated MS note by A.J. Finberg (died 1939) in interleaved copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, I, opposite p.512.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
March 2017

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Figure and Costume Studies; Hills with Distant Buildings, Possibly Including a View of Chiari 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-figure-and-costume-studies-hills-with-distant-buildings-r1186484, accessed 05 February 2025.