Joseph Mallord William Turner Historical Notes (Inscriptions by Turner) c.1808-10
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 91 Verso:
Historical Notes (Inscriptions by Turner) circa 1808–10
D07112
Turner Bequest CV 81a
Turner Bequest CV 81a
Inscribed by Turner in ink (see main catalogue entry) on white wove paper, 108 x 185 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1897
Walter Thornbury, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A. Founded on Letters and Papers Furnished by his Friends and Fellow-Academicians: A New Edition, Revised with 8 Coloured Illustrations after Turner’s Originals and 2 Woodcuts, London 1897, p.486.
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.279, CV 81a.
1961
Alexander J. Finberg, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A. Second Edition, Revised, with a Supplement, by Hilda F. Finberg, revised ed., Oxford 1961, pp.151–2.
1966
Jack Lindsay, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work: A Critical Biography, London 1966, pp.103, 232 note 24.
1990
Andrew Wilton and Rosalind Mallord Turner, Painting and Poetry: Turner’s ‘Verse Book’ and his Work of 1804–1812, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1990, p.131.
1997
Anthony Bailey, Standing in the Sun: A Life of J.M.W. Turner, London 1997, pp.102, 179.
Turner’s inscription reads:
Suetonius coach used | hanging carroch | Claudius and his Son given the | name of Brittanicus from their first | Expedition to Britain and to | give a proof of the value in which | this island was held even at that | time ... confirmed | and even strengthened invention | at ... additional honors at being | considered not inferior to their | proudest triumphs and splendours | provinces acquired by their arms | and altho it cost them as | many Legions to preserve the Island | yet they did not forsake it but in | their last Extremity, and some | data may be drawn from that | Triumph to elucidate that Brit|ain was considered as Mistress of | the Seas, by her Statue being | surmounted by a naval coronet | and the province given a crown of Gold | Gallia Comata France & Spain ... 16
These notes on the Emperor Claudius refer to the Lives of the Caesars by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. Gallia Comata (‘long-haired Gaul’) comprised much of present-day northern France, Belgium and westernmost Germany. There are further historical notes on folio 90 verso (D07110; Turner Bequest CV 80a)
David Blayney Brown
June 2010
How to cite
David Blayney Brown, ‘Historical Notes (Inscriptions by Turner) c.1808–10 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www