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

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Inside Back Cover:

Inscription by Turner: Materials for the Etching Process 1796

D40761

Pencil on white laid paper, 126 x 108 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil with notes (see main catalogue entry)
Stamped in black ‘XXX’ top left, ascending vertically

Turner’s inscription, not recorded by Finberg,1 is written at the top left of the page, turned vertically:

                                            6
            RN B Pitch    2
            Aqua Fortis – X     2
            Oil of Turpentine  6
            Roller Stone          4
            Lamp Black    X
            Wax                         6
            Spirit of Wine      16
                                             5
                                             8 5

This is a list of the materials required for etching; Turner had made a similar list on the back (Tate D40213) of one of his Academy studies (Tate D00057; Turner Bequest V D), possibly with the intention of making his own etched series of ‘Twelve Views on the River Avon’; see the Bristol and Malmesbury sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest VI) in the ‘Bristol and Malmesbury 1791’ section of this catalogue. As noted in the Introduction to the present sketchbook, two recently discovered fragments of etchings (Tate D41457, D41464; Turner Bequest XXXII F v and XXXII C v respectively) may have been executed as a result of this revived interest.