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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Southern Germany, Austria and Venice ... > Vienna up to Venice Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Five Sketches of Paintings in the Imperial Picture Gallery in Vienna, Including: Francesco Furini's 'Penitent Magdalene' and Rubens's 'Portrait of Hélène Fourment in a Fur Wrap' 1833

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Five Sketches of Paintings in the Imperial Picture Gallery in Vienna, Including: Francesco Furini's 'Penitent Magdalene' and Rubens's 'Portrait of Hélène Fourment in a Fur Wrap'’ 1833 (Inside front cover of sketchbook)
Inside front cover of sketchbook
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Inside Front Cover:
Five Sketches of Paintings in the Imperial Picture Gallery in Vienna, Including: Francesco Furini's 'Penitent Magdalene' and Rubens's 'Portrait of Hélène Fourment in a Fur Wrap' 1833
D41262
Pencil on off-white lined paper, 184 x 113 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Frances Furini’ top left to centre, ‘160[...] 69’ top right, ‘Ven[...] | del ...]’ top right, ‘Montag’ | ‘Diesstum’ | ‘Fristag’ | ‘Samstadt’ | ‘like Titian’ bottom right to centre (inverted), ‘V[...] M[...]’ bottom left to centre (inverted), ‘529’ centre towards bottom left (inverted), ‘Vienna’ left centre, ‘M[...]’ top left towards centre
Inscribed in pencil ‘1/2 6/24’ bottom left
Stamped in black ‘CCCXI’ top left
Inscribed in pencil ‘CCCXI’ top left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These sketches are after five paintings Turner saw in Vienna’s Upper Belvedere, which then housed the Imperial Picture Gallery. An impression of Francesco Furini’s Penitent Magdalene is squared-off at top left, with a sketch of Peter Paul Rubens’ Portrait of Hélène Fourment in a Fur Wrap to its right, orientated inversely.1 Various inscriptions surround the sketches: ‘Frances Furini’ top left to centre, ‘160[...] 69’ top right, ‘Ven[...] | del ...]’ top right, ‘Montag’ | ‘Diesstum’ | ‘Fristag’ | ‘Samstadt’ | ‘like Titian’ bottom right to centre (inverted), ‘V[...] M[...]’ bottom left to centre (inverted), ‘529’ centre towards bottom left (inverted), ‘Vienna’ left centre, ‘M[...]’ top left towards centre.
Among these inscriptions is Turner’s approximation of the days of the week in German: ‘Montag’ | ‘Diesstum’ | ‘Fristag’ | ‘Samstadt’ (Monday, Tuesday Friday and Saturday).
See Tate D31030–D31033; Turner Bequest CCCVII 6–7 for examples of similar sketches taken at Dresden Picture Gallery during a tour of 1835.2 See also Tate D31416, D31597; Turner Bequest CCCXI 1, 94a in this sketchbook.

Alice Rylance-Watson
September 2017

1
Franceso Furini, The Penitent Magdalene (Büßende Maria Magdalena), 1630–35, oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie (213), www.khm.at/de/object/5807a685d1/> and Peter Paul Rubens, Portrait of Hélène Fourment in a Fur Wrap (Helena Fourment ("Das Pelzchen")), 1636–38, oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie (688) www.khm.at/de/object/52c5189391/>.
2
Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Four Paintings in the Dresden Picture Gallery: Claude Lorrain, 'Landscape with the Flight into Egypt'; Claude Lorrain, 'Landscape with Acis and Galatea'; Jacob Backer, 'David Giving Uriah the Letter'; Jacob van Ruisdael, 'The Hunt' 1835 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-four-paintings-in-the-dresden-picture-gallery-claude-lorrain-r1186903, accessed 05 September 2017. See also Warrell 1997, p.105, p.209 note 121.

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Five Sketches of Paintings in the Imperial Picture Gallery in Vienna, Including: Francesco Furini's 'Penitent Magdalene' and Rubens's 'Portrait of Hélène Fourment in a Fur Wrap' 1833 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-five-sketches-of-paintings-in-the-imperial-picture-gallery-r1203430, accessed 25 November 2024.