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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > Drawings Made at Harewood and Plompton ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Trees, Topiary or Rocks 1797

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Trees, Topiary or Rocks’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
?Trees, Topiary or Rocks 1797
D40061
Pencil on white wove paper, 259 x 398 mm
Watermark ‘IV’
Inscribed in pencil ‘Li.T’ towards bottom left
Stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram above ‘LI – T’ towards bottom left
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Not mentioned in Finberg’s 1909 Inventory,1 the freely drawn outlines of this slight sketch may represent trees, topiary, or rocks; if the latter, this is possibly a study made at Plompton Rocks. See also Tate D02389, D02392 and D17202 (Turner Bequest LI V, Y, CXCVII L).
There is a sketch in the park at Harewood on the recto (D02387; Turner Bequest LI T).
1
See A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.130.
Technical notes:
There are extensive paint trials towards the bottom and the right. The sheet has been folded vertically down the centre. For more on the paper, see under D02387.

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘?Trees, Topiary or Rocks 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-trees-topiary-or-rocks-r1150310, accessed 17 July 2024.