Joseph Mallord William Turner
Study of the Head of a Moorhen

About the Item

Watercolour on paper Paper size: 4 x 5 inches Framed size: 19 x 19.75 inches PROVENANCE A gift from Joseph Mallord William Turner to Miss Amelia Hawksworth (later Mrs Hotham), niece of Walter Fawkes. The watercolour descended through the ownership of Amelia Hawksworth, daughter of Francis Fawkes ( Walter Fawkes's brother) who was the main compiler of the Ornithological Collection (Miss Hawksworth owned five other bird studies by Turner). Private collection, London LITERATURE: For similar works by J M W Turner see Anne Lyles, The Tate catalogue for the exhibition 'Turner and Natural History, The Farnley Project', 1988. The present watercolour was drawn circa 1815-1820 for Walter Fawkes of Farnley Hall, for his Ornithological Collection Volume IV. Between 1808 and 1824, Turner visited Farnley Hall in Yorkshire to stay with the Fawkes family. Turner felt at home at Farnley - the Fawkes daughters reminded him of his own. He helped illustrate a five volume ornithological scrap book for the Fawkes children, making watercolour studies of the birds for the children to stick in opposite the pages on which feathers from similar birds were attached. His bird portraits were most effective, most "life-like", when in fact the bird was dead ! His watercolours of a live robin and goldfinch have a more hesitant touch. At this time Turner enjoyed the patronage first of Edward Lascelles, the heir to Harewood, and after 1808, of the radical landlord Walter Fawkes of Farnley Hall, near Otley. He became a close friend of the Fawkes family with whom he stayed for most summers until 1824. The last owner of Old Farnley Hall was Francis Fawkes, a rich widower with no direct heirs. When Francis Fawkes died in 1786 he left the house to Walter Beaumont Hawksworth of Hawksworth Hall, on condition that Hawksworth adopt the Fawkes name by Royal Licence. Walter Fawkes brought in architect John Carr of York to make extensions to the house, but he died before the work was completed, and Farnley Hall was passed on to his son, also called Walter who also took the Fawkes name and was known as Walter Ramsden Fawkes. It was this Walter who was a great friend of J M W Turner. Anne Lyles has confirmed the attribution and writes: "Everything fits in relation to the style of the watercolour and most especially the provenance - in the Turner and Natural History exhibition catalogue of 1988 we know that Amelia Hawksworth (Mrs Hotham) owned three studies of birds' heads by J M W Turner (previously with the Maas Gallery, and numbers 36, 37 and 61 in that catalogue) as well as two studies of dead game by the artist (catalogue numbers 59 and 63, the latter untraced in 1988). Interestingly, catalogue numbers 36 and 37 (the Merganser and the Smew) seem also originally to have been intended for Volume IV of the Ornithological Collection - it is likely that the "Study of the Head of a Moorhen" was intended for this. However, this section of the Farnley Bird book failed to be covered, perhaps owing to the difficulty of sourcing the feathers.

Creator:
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 - 1851, British)
Dimensions:
Height: 19 in (48.26 cm)Width: 19.75 in (50.17 cm)Depth: 3.5 in (8.89 cm)
Medium:
Watercolor,Paper
Period:
19th Century
Condition:
Framed behind glass.
Gallery Location:
Belgravia, London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 135321stDibs: LU136026344502
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