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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Erotica and Improvisations c.1834-6 > Colour Studies (1) Sketchbook [Finberg ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Curtained Bed, ?with a Figure or Figures c.1834-6

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Curtained Bed, ?with a Figure or Figures’ c.1834-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 9 Recto:
A Curtained Bed, ?with a Figure or Figures c.1834–6
D28799
Turner Bequest CCXCI b 9
Watercolour on white wove paper, 77 x 101 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘9’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXCI(b) – 9’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The masses of the initial watercolour washes have barely been developed here, but by analogy with other such works there may be a hint of a pale figure or figures within the recesses of a curtained bed.
For a discussion of the improvisatory and often erotic nature of the watercolour studies making up most of this sketchbook, see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
May 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Curtained Bed, ?with a Figure or Figures c.1834–6 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-curtained-bed-with-a-figure-or-figures-r1149029, accessed 21 November 2024.