Oil paint on wood
Tate Collection
Works with images
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner Bequest
Oil paintings
Collection
Turner owned by Tate
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner-558" aria-label="More by Joseph Mallord William Turner" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Mallord William Turner</a>
An Artists Colourmans Workshop
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
adults
bucket
cauldron
craftsman
fine arts and music
flask
industrial and crafts
interiors
kitchen
machinery
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objects
painting materials
people
tools and machinery
vessels and containers
work and occupations
workshop
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<p>Though the scene owes much to seventeenth-century Dutch painting, it does depict some aspects of paint-making – the trade of the artist’s colourman – carried out during Turner’s lifetime. Horse- and donkey-mills as seen in the background were used for grinding large quantities of cheap pigments such as ochres, siennas and umbers, used by decorators and artists. These feature in virtually all his oil paintings and in many earlier watercolours too.</p><p>The colourman himself is grinding a quantity of red pigment into oil, using a heavy muller. It took half a day to grind a reasonable quantity. He would have put the paint into bladders of the type seen in Turner’s tin paintbox, for purchase by artists. In fact the red pigment is simple red ochre that could have come from the donkey-mill: Turner has painted it over a bright white ground to emulate the brilliance of vermilion. He used this technique often for pure and unmixed pigments, to dazzling effect.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
painting oil paint wood
1 July 2002 – 20 March 2005
2005-03-20
1 July 2002 – 20 March 2005
2005-03-20
2002-07-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-07-01
Turner and the Modern World
Collection based display
14 August 2009 – 19 July 2010
2010-07-19
14 August 2009 – 19 July 2010
2010-07-19
2009-08-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-08-14
Exploring Technique
Collection based display
An Artists’ Colourman’s Workshop
support: 622 × 914 mm
frame: 693 × 1020 × 65 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the <a href="/search?gid=999999781" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Turner Bequest</a> 1856
<p>Though the scene owes much to seventeenth-century Dutch painting, it does depict some aspects of paint-making – the trade of the artist’s colourman – carried out during Turner’s lifetime. Horse- and donkey-mills as seen in the background were used for grinding large quantities of cheap pigments such as ochres, siennas and umbers, used by decorators and artists. These feature in virtually all his oil paintings and in many earlier watercolours too. 
<br/>
<br/>The colourman himself is grinding a quantity of red pigment into oil, using a heavy muller. It took half a day to grind a reasonable quantity. He would have put the paint into bladders of the type seen in Turner’s tin paintbox, for purchase by artists. In fact the red pigment is simple red ochre that could have come from the donkey-mill: Turner has painted it over a bright white ground to emulate the brilliance of vermilion. He used this technique often for pure and unmixed pigments, to dazzling effect. 
<br/></p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>207. </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-an-artists-colourmans-workshop-n05503" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05503</span></a>]<b> An Artists' Colourman's Workshop</b> c. 1807
<br/>
<br/>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (5503)
<br/>Oil, 24 1/2 × 36 (62 × 91·5) on pine, 24 1/2 × 37 3/8 (62 × 95)
<br/>Inscr. ‘OLD MASTERS’ on book above door centre right and illegibly on vat lower left.
<br/><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest (? 271, ‘1 (Panel’ 3'1 3/4" × 2'1"); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1947.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> Tate Gallery 1982 (p. 43, repr.).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Davies 1946, pp. 161–2; Marks 1981, p. 345.</p>
<p></p>
<p>This unfinished <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> was tentatively identified by Martin Davies as showing ‘The Faker's Studio (?)’. However, Stefan Slabczynski, former Keeper of Conservation at the Tate Gallery, has pointed out that the man in the centre is grinding red pigments on a marble slab while a horse-driven wheel is grinding colours more coarsely behind; the various jars and vats are filled with paints or <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/medium" title="Glossary definition for 'Medium'"><span>media</span></a>.
<br/>
<br/>The picture was painted on three rough planks of pine, the back having been gouged out to take a crossbar, rather than on a specially prepared artists' <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/panel" title="Glossary definition for 'Panel'"><span>panel</span></a>. On each side, though not at top or bottom, there is a  3/4 in. strip of bare wood, without ground or paint, suggesting that there were framing members there when the picture was painted. It is probable, therefore, that Turner used part of a door or panelling for this work.
<br/>
<br/>Though unfinished and a bit larger, the painting is close in style and technique to <i>A Country Blacksmith</i> exhibited in 1807 (No. 68 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-a-country-blacksmith-disputing-upon-the-price-of-iron-and-the-price-charged-to-the-n00478" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00478</span></a>]). <i>The Garreteer's Petition</i>, exhibited two years later, already seems to be somewhat later in style (No. 100 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-garreteers-petition-n00482" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00482</span></a>]).</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults bucket cauldron craftsman fine arts and music flask industrial and crafts interiors kitchen machinery man objects painting materials people tools and machinery vessels and containers work and occupations workshop workspaces