Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscriptions by Turner and his Stockbroker William Marsh: Accounts c.1810
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
Inscriptions by Turner and his Stockbroker William Marsh: Accounts
c.1810
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Inscriptions by Turner and his Stockbroker William Marsh: Accounts c.1810
D08359
Turner Bequest CXXII (4)
Turner Bequest CXXII (4)
Pen and nk on white laid paper, 187 x 228 mm
Inscribed by Turner and his stockbroker William Marsh in pen and ink (see main catalogue entry)
Watermark including crown (truncated by bottom edge of sheet)
Inscribed in pencil ‘CXXII. 4.’ bottom left
Inscribed by Turner and his stockbroker William Marsh in pen and ink (see main catalogue entry)
Watermark including crown (truncated by bottom edge of sheet)
Inscribed in pencil ‘CXXII. 4.’ bottom left
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.336, CXXII (4), with transcription.
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.170–1, with transcription.
1981
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Rivers, Harbours and Coasts, London 1981, p.5.
1984
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.75 under nos.104 and 105, 80 under no.113, 129 under no.210.
1990
Julian Brooks, ‘Letter to the Editor’, Turner Studies, vol.10, no.2, Winter 1990, p.54.
The half of the page to the left of the central fold is blank. The right-hand half is taken up with the following accounts in pounds, shillings and pence, with the dated listing ‘in the Stockbroker’s handwriting, except the names inserted after “Bought,” which are by Turner’, as Finberg noted, although he thought the separate calculations (which incorporate the figure listed under 25 May were ‘probably in Turner’s hand’;1 however, the lower passage, including idiosyncratic ‘3’s, ‘7’s and horizontal ‘8’s, seems consistent with the upper:
1810 Mr Turner
3 Jany Sd, £100 Red
19 Oxford Bot, 50 Cons.
16 May Bt Phillip 143.12.6 Red
18 ” Bt Phillip 142.12.– Do.
25 ” Bt Pelham 423 . 5 . 7 Cons
14 June Bt Egremont 428 .11. 5 Red
18 ” Bt Lonsdale 598 .18. 7 D o.
26 July Bt Fuller 250 Consv
50
423 . 5 . 7
250
723 . 5 . 7
150
873 . 5 . 7
3 Jany Sd, £100 Red
19 Oxford Bot, 50 Cons.
16 May Bt Phillip 143.12.6 Red
18 ” Bt Phillip 142.12.– Do.
25 ” Bt Pelham 423 . 5 . 7 Cons
14 June Bt Egremont 428 .11. 5 Red
18 ” Bt Lonsdale 598 .18. 7 D o.
26 July Bt Fuller 250 Consv
50
423 . 5 . 7
250
723 . 5 . 7
150
873 . 5 . 7
This is one of a grouping of four loose papers kept in the integral pocket inside the front cover of the Finance sketchbook (D40898). One, D08356 (Turner Bequest CXXII (1)), is a receipt from a London coaching inn, with a delivery note on the back (D40899). Two others (D08357, D08358; Turner Bequest CXXII (2), (3)) are pre-printed Bank of England slips with manuscript additions. The ‘Stockbroker’s handwriting’ matches the flowing script on D08357, which includes the words ‘Wm, Marsh, Stock Broker, 5, Sweeting’s Alley’, presumably inscribed by Marsh himself, and on D08358.
As Finberg observes, in this ‘one – and only one – of Marsh’s accounts’ to have survived, the transactions cover January–July 1810,2 and were presumably written up at one sitting soon afterwards. All the named entries except ‘Oxford’ also appear with the same associated figures in the Hastings sketchbook, followed by the note ‘Bought this year 1810’ (Tate D07686; Turner Bequest CXI 59). The £723 five shillings and seven pence towards the bottom may relate to the ‘773 5 7’ and ‘723’ mentioned in the extensive inscriptions on the other side of the sheet (D40900). ‘Red’ stands for Reduced stocks, and ‘Cons’ for Consols (i.e. consolidated stocks).
The total of over £7000 of stock holdings in August 1810 given at the top left of the verso (D40900) thus includes over £2000-worth Turner acquired within the previous few months, but Finberg notes that since ‘the price of Three per cents. varied this year between £71 and £63 ¼, ... the amount of stock purchased was larger than the sums he had received for his pictures’.3
Finberg’s interpretations of Turner’s interventions noting the sources of the amounts appear correct, and are as follows:
‘Oxford’: ‘may perhaps refer to a portion of the money received from [James] Wyatt’;4 Wyatt paid 100 guineas in March 1810 for his commission View of the High-Street, Oxford, exhibited at Turner’s gallery later that year (private collection)5
‘Phillip’: ‘may have been Sir George Richard Phil[l]ips, Bt, M.P., whose eldest daughter married the 2nd Earl Camperdown in March 1839, as the picture of “Linlithgow Castle” was till recently [1919] in the Camperdown family’;6 Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, commissioned by Phillips and exhibited at Turner’s Gallery in 1810 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)7
‘Pelham’: ‘the Hon. Charles Pelham, who afterwards became the 1st Earl of Yarborough; and the picture paid for was most likely “The Wreck of a Transport Ship”’;8 bought by Pelham in 1810 (Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon)9
‘Egremont’: ‘Lord Egremont ... for “Petworth from the Lake”, ... and “Cockermouth Castle”’;10 respectively: Petworth, Sussex, the Seat of the Earl of Egremont: Dewy Morning, commissioned by Lord Egremont and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1810 (Tate T03880; displayed at Petworth House);11 and Cockermouth Castle, commissioned and exhibited at Turner’s Gallery in 1810 (Tate T03879; also displayed at Petworth House);12 Egremont is also mentioned on folios 7 verso and 13 recto (D08294, D08303)
‘Lonsdale’: ‘Lord Lonsdale ... for the two views of “Lowther Castle”’;13 Lowther Castle, Westmorland, the Seat of the Earl of Lonsdale: North-West View from Ullswater Lane: Evening and Lowther Castle, Westmorland, the Seat of the Earl of Lonsdale (the North Front), with the River Lowther, Mid-Day, both exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1810 (respectively Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, and private collection)14
‘Fuller’: ‘Mr. John Fuller ... probably for “Hastings Beach”’;15 Fishmarket on the Sands – Hastings?, exhibited at Turner’s gallery in 1810 as ‘Fish Market’ (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri);16 Julian Brooks has noted a discrepancy between Turner’s ‘26 July Bt Fuller 250 Cons’ and the ‘£200’ noted in Fuller’s account book for 26 July 1810 (East Sussex Record Office, Lewes, RAF/F/13/14);17 for Turner’s wider involvement with Fuller from 1810 onwards, see David Blayney Brown’s Introduction to the ‘East Sussex c.1806–20’ section of the present catalogue. Fuller is also mentioned on the verso (D40900)
‘Phillip’: ‘may have been Sir George Richard Phil[l]ips, Bt, M.P., whose eldest daughter married the 2nd Earl Camperdown in March 1839, as the picture of “Linlithgow Castle” was till recently [1919] in the Camperdown family’;6 Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, commissioned by Phillips and exhibited at Turner’s Gallery in 1810 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)7
‘Pelham’: ‘the Hon. Charles Pelham, who afterwards became the 1st Earl of Yarborough; and the picture paid for was most likely “The Wreck of a Transport Ship”’;8 bought by Pelham in 1810 (Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon)9
‘Egremont’: ‘Lord Egremont ... for “Petworth from the Lake”, ... and “Cockermouth Castle”’;10 respectively: Petworth, Sussex, the Seat of the Earl of Egremont: Dewy Morning, commissioned by Lord Egremont and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1810 (Tate T03880; displayed at Petworth House);11 and Cockermouth Castle, commissioned and exhibited at Turner’s Gallery in 1810 (Tate T03879; also displayed at Petworth House);12 Egremont is also mentioned on folios 7 verso and 13 recto (D08294, D08303)
‘Lonsdale’: ‘Lord Lonsdale ... for the two views of “Lowther Castle”’;13 Lowther Castle, Westmorland, the Seat of the Earl of Lonsdale: North-West View from Ullswater Lane: Evening and Lowther Castle, Westmorland, the Seat of the Earl of Lonsdale (the North Front), with the River Lowther, Mid-Day, both exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1810 (respectively Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, and private collection)14
‘Fuller’: ‘Mr. John Fuller ... probably for “Hastings Beach”’;15 Fishmarket on the Sands – Hastings?, exhibited at Turner’s gallery in 1810 as ‘Fish Market’ (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri);16 Julian Brooks has noted a discrepancy between Turner’s ‘26 July Bt Fuller 250 Cons’ and the ‘£200’ noted in Fuller’s account book for 26 July 1810 (East Sussex Record Office, Lewes, RAF/F/13/14);17 for Turner’s wider involvement with Fuller from 1810 onwards, see David Blayney Brown’s Introduction to the ‘East Sussex c.1806–20’ section of the present catalogue. Fuller is also mentioned on the verso (D40900)
The figure ‘423 5 7’ in the lower calculations also appears on one of the associated Bank of England slips (D08358; CXXII (3)), presumably filled in at or near the same time. For more on Turner’s finances as set out in the extensive notes in this sketchbook, see the Introduction.
Butlin and Joll 1984, pp.73–4 no.102, pl.109 (colour); see also Evelyn Joll, ‘Wyatt, James (1774–1853)’ in Joll, Martin Butlin and Luke Herrmann (eds.), The Oxford Companion to J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 2001, p.389.
Butlin and Joll 1984, pp.74–5 no.104, pl.111 (colour); see also Robert Upstone, ‘Phillips, Sir George (1789–1863)’ in Joll, Butlin and Herrmann 2001, p.227.
Butlin and Joll 1984, pp.128–9 no.210, pl.213 (colour); see also Robert Upstone, ‘Yarborough, Charles Anderson Pelham, first Baron Yarborough (1749–1823)’ in Joll, Butlin and Herrmann 2001, pp.[390]–1.
Ibid., p.77 no.108, pl.115 (colour); see also Alastair Laing, ‘Egremont, third Earl of (1751–1837)’ in Joll, Butlin and Herrmann 2001, pp.84–6.
Butlin and Joll 1984, respectively pp.78–9 no.111, pl.116, and p.79 no.112, pl.117; see also Evelyn Joll, ‘Lonsdale, Earl of (1757–1844)’ in Joll, Butlin and Herrmann 2001, p.178.
Technical notes:
The bottom edge is slightly irregular, as the sheet appears from its truncated watermark to be the top half of a larger one torn in two. It has been folded three times into halves, quarters and eighths to fit neatly into the pocket in the front cover of the Finance sketchbook along with the three other financial documents. It was previously folded along roughly the same lines, into quarters with various further vertical creases.
Matthew Imms
September 2013
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘Inscriptions by Turner and his Stockbroker William Marsh: Accounts c.1810 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www