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

D25192, D25229, D25280, D25288, D25298

Turner Bequest CCLXIII 70, 107, 158, 166, 176

This subsection comprises ‘colour beginnings’ which in their technique, size and other respects appear likely to be studies for unrealised compositions, which could have led to finished watercolours to be engraved for Turner’s Picturesque Views in England and Wales, published between 1827 and 1838.

The scheme was terminated prematurely, and was to have included one hundred and twenty designs, of which only ninety-six were engraved from one hundred completed watercolours (see the overall introduction to this section of the catalogue), so there was scope in the course of the project for Turner to experiment with further subjects, as proposed in the entries here. These particular compositions are somewhat generic in character, without much in the way of topographical detail to enable any specific identifications.