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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > French Tour 1821 > Dieppe, Rouen and Paris Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Three Sketches of Pictures, ?by Claude 1821

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Three Sketches of Pictures, ?by Claude’ 1821
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 32 Verso:
Three Sketches of Pictures, ?by Claude 1821
D24561
Turner Bequest CCLVIII 32a
Pencil on white wove paper, 123 x 118 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner, see transcription below
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of four pages in this sketchbook dedicated to notes and copies of paintings in the Louvre, mainly by Claude Lorrain (1600–1682). See folio 19 verso (Tate D24536; Turner Bequest CCLVIII 19a) for references.
The first sketch at the top of the page is a study after Claude’s Landscape with Rural Dance (La Fête Villageoise), c.1637 (Musée du Louvre). The sketch is inscribed towards the top ‘v warm tree’, and the figures are numbered ‘1’–‘6’ in relation to Turner’s notes which are as follows:
Sky blue at the top with white clouds only the [...] | and the outlines somewhat grey On the right the Town somewhat | of B[urn]t Sienna tone, the Bridge and the Tower [?]relieved by | warm and deeper as to mass than the sky and D[...] the water dark, and the ground | occasionally in light relieving the | figures which are chiefly red and | orange. The Blue serves two | purposes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 shades the | cows Red white rump and dark | heads, these with the red and white | figure, XO, make the mass. – | The orange dancing figure yellow | with blue Ultra [marine] border | This is a warm rich full | toned picture, warm green | in the Trees and Brown shadows the figures hold the most Brown.
The second study is after Claude’s Seaport (Port de Mer au Soleil Couchant), c.1637 (Musée du Louvre). The sky is inscribed ‘Blue’ at the top-left, marked ‘x’ in the sea beneath the sun, and the figures are numbered ‘1’–‘5’. Turner notes:
This is a red Picture much touched upon the sky. | Warm with brown red clouds, a haze over the sun which | ceases at x in the water, and then it comes a light toned green | which is lighter than the shadows of the | Buildings. The mid [...] rather | Brown the green the figures like as shadows 1 2 3 4 5 ox | R B R O B W the | grown Brown.
The final sketch at the bottom of the page is based on Ulysses Returns Chryseis to her Father (Ulysses remet Chryséis à son père) ?1644–8 (Musée du Louvre). The sketch is labelled with colour names and initials, and two figures are numbered ‘1’ and ‘2’. Turner notes:
Sky warm and clear of clouds. The sea the shadow | so that all the buildings as ½ tints and a grey green tone | like the St. Ursula. The ground lighter than the Building | and warmer by brown shadows | The figures are colors [sic] and | detach themselves as ½ in | the Blue, the sea and ships | The mass of shadow, solely | trees, clear the buildings | from heaviness the shadows | of the figures browner than | the shades and reflections.

Thomas Ardill
February 2013

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Three Sketches of Pictures, ?by Claude 1821 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-three-sketches-of-pictures-by-claude-r1146348, accessed 11 February 2025.