Found in Turner's Studio: Landscape and Figures

See Turner's unfinished canvases, among many found in the studio after his death

This selection ranges from across his career, showing how Turner sometimes returned to earlier themes. Subjects include landscapes and figures. Some of the works appear more resolved than others. It is unlikely that Turner considered any of them ready to exhibit. None of the works were shown in public during Turner’s lifetime.

Although Turner occasionally painted outdoors, he usually worked in his studio. Here he could experiment freely, testing out ideas in private. Turner rarely discussed his working practices. His habit of finishing his pictures after they had been hung for exhibition provides a rare insight into his methods. He dazzled onlookers with his last-minute flourishes of paint that transformed his canvases. The paintings shown here never received this final treatment.

Turner worked with a variety of brushes and palette knives. He applied paint in different ways to achieve contrasting effects. He worked quickly, altering his compositions as he painted and often working on several canvases at the same time.

Tate Britain
Main Floor Clore Gallery

Getting Here

1 February – 27 November 2022

Free

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Château Gaillard from the South (Vignette) c.1833

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artworks in Found in Turner's Studio: Landscape and Figures

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Château Gaillard from the South (Vignette) c.1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study for Unidentified Vignettes: Mackerel on a Beach c.1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study for Vignette of A Tempest - Voyage of Columbus 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study for Unidentified Vignettes: Lobsters on the Beach c.1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Vignette Study for Moore’s ‘The Epicurean’; Sky for ‘The Nile’ c.1837–8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Vignette Study for Moore’s ‘The Epicurean’; Alciphron’s Swoon c.1837

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Vignette Study for Moore’s ‘The Epicurean’; Descent into the Well c.1837–8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Perugia, for Rogers’s ‘Italy’ c.1826–7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Forum, for Rogers’s ‘Italy’ c.1826–7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Tivoli, for Rogers’s ‘Italy’ c.1826–7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Traitor’s Gate, Tower of London, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Boy of Egremond, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, St. Herbert’s Chapel, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Valombrè, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Hurricane in the Desert (The Simoom), for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Evening (Datur Hora Quieti), for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Village-Fair, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Tempest - Voyage of Columbus, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

after Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Temptation on the Pinnacle, engraved by F. Bacon published 1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Temptation on the Pinnacle c.1834

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Keswick Lake, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Sunset: A Fish Market on the Beach c.1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Sketches and Inscriptions in a Copy of Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study for ‘A Tempest’, Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Loch Lomond, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, St Julienne’s Chapel, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study for Unidentified Vignettes: Cod on the Beach c.1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, St Pierre’s Cottage, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study for Unidentified Vignettes: Wreck Buoy, Gurnet, Dogfish, and Plaice c.1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study for Vignette of A Tempest - Voyage of Columbus 1831

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