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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > East Sussex c.1806-20 > Richmond Hill; Hastings to Margate ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Study for 'The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire' c.1816

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Study for 'The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire'’ c.1816
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 81 Verso:
?Study for ‘The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire’ circa 1816
D10555
Turner Bequest CXL 73a
Pencil on white wove paper, 155 x 95 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is certainly a composition study for a classical seaport in the manner of Claude Lorrain and in view of other drawings and draft verses in this sketchbook it is most likely to be connected with The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire (Tate N00499)1 exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1817; see Introduction to the sketchbook and notes to folio 4 (D10416). However, the composition can only be compared to the picture in general terms and there are other drawings in the Yorkshire 1 and Hints River sketchbooks (Tate D11032; Turner Bequest CXLIV 101a and Tate D10640–D10641; Turner Bequest CXLI 32a, 33). The latter book overlaps with the present one in having views of Richmond Hill, which may help to confirm the relationship with Decline of Carthage as well.
There are splashes of oil or varnish on this leaf.

David Blayney Brown
July 2011

1
Butlin and Joll 1984, pp.100–1 no.135 (pl.137).

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘?Study for ‘The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire’ c.1816 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-study-for-the-decline-of-the-carthaginian-empire-r1131549, accessed 11 February 2025.