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

D17125, D17166, D17167, D17177, D17179, D17768–D17772, D25157, D25173, D25219, D25236

CXCV 154, CXCVI B, C, M, O, CCIII K, L, M, N, O, CCLXIII 35, 51, 97, 114

Reflecting ongoing research across the Turner Bequest, this grouping comprises a variety of separate sheets complementing those catalogued by David Hill in 2009 in his parallel ‘Farnley and Related Subjects’ subsection, encompassing work for Turner’s close friend and major patron Walter Fawkes of Farnley Hall in Yorkshire (see Hill’s overall Introduction to this section).

There is a slight chalk study (D17125; Turner Bequest CXCV 154) for an early watercolour of one of Fawkes’s properties near Farnley, and ‘colour beginnings’ for views around the area (D17177, D17179, D25219, D25236; Turner Bequest CXCVI M, O, CCLXIII 97, 114). D17768–D17772 (Turner Bequest CCIII K, L, M, N, O), a series of studies of wooded river valley subjects, may date from Turner’s last visit to Fawkes in 1824, as discussed under D17771, while D25157 (Turner Bequest CCLXIII 35) is a loose colour study, possibly representing the Farnley estate.

Ranging further afield, two ‘colour beginnings’ (D17166, D17167; Turner Bequest CXCVI B, C) informed variant watercolours of Scarborough owned by Fawkes and a Yorkshire relative, while D25173 (Turner Bequest CCLXIII 51) may relate to a completed view of industrial Leeds. For a discussion of the function of such colour studies in general, see the Introduction to the ‘England and Wales Colour Studies c.1825–39’ section.1