Oil paint on canvas
Sussex, West
Sussex - non-specific
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>
Interior a Great House Drawing Room East Cowes Castle
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
animals: mammals
arch
architecture
couch
destruction
dog - non-specific
domestic
door
emotions, concepts and ideas
England
England, South East
England, Southern
features
formal qualities
furnishings
gestural
hall
interiors
objects
Petworth, Petworth House
places
Sussex - non-specific
Sussex, West
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
universal concepts
<p>Turner didn’t give this unfinished painting a title. It is thought to be a room in East Cowes Castle, the home of the architect John Nash on the Isle of Wight, where Turner spent the late summer of 1827. Near the centre, the bright emerald green and red vermilion give a strong colour contrast. Emerald green was the first intensely green pigment Turner could obtain, and it had not long been available. Turner created the light by using a palette knife, a brush, the brush-end and scratches from his thumbnail (which he kept long for this purpose).</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2020</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
4 July 2002 – 29 September 2002
2002-09-29
4 July 2002 – 29 September 2002
2002-09-29
2002-07-04
National Trust: Petworth House (Petworth, UK)
2002-07-04
Turner at Petworth
Loan-out
6 October 2007 – 13 January 2008
2008-01-13
6 October 2007 – 13 January 2008
2008-01-13
2007-10-06
Museum voor Schone Kunsten (Ghent, Belgium)
http://www.gent.be/
2007-10-06
British Vision, Observation and Imagination in British Art, 1750 -1950
Loan-out
20 March 2009 – 3 August 2009
2009-08-03
20 March 2009 – 3 August 2009
2009-08-03
2009-03-20
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-03-20
The Space Inside: Turner's Interiors
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
28 April 2012 – 10 July 2016
2016-07-10
28 April 2012
2012-04-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-04-28
In The Studio
Collection based display
11 July 2016 – 15 March 2020
2020-03-15
11 July 2016 – 15 March 2020
2020-03-15
2016-07-11
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2016-07-11
Clore 103 In the Studio
Collection based display
6 April 2020 – 27 November 2022
2022-11-27
6 April 2019
2019-04-06
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2020-04-06
Clore 102
Collection based display
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
2023-10-28
Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany)
2023-10-28
Turner at Lenbachhaus Munich
Loan-out
Interior of a Great House: The Drawing Room, East Cowes Castle
support: 908 × 1219 mm
frame: 1239 × 1550 × 96 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
<div class="text">
<p>Turner didn’t give this unfinished painting a title. It is thought to be a room in East Cowes Castle, the home of the architect John Nash on the Isle of Wight, where Turner spent the late summer of 1827. Near the centre, the bright emerald green and red vermilion give a strong colour contrast. Emerald green was the first intensely green pigment Turner could obtain, and it had not long been available. Turner created the light by using a palette knife, a brush, the brush-end and scratches from his thumbnail (which he kept long for this purpose).  </p>
</div>

Display caption
2020-07-01T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p>[from]<b> Nos. 444–9: Figure Subjects and Interiors associated with Petworth and East Cowes Castle, <i>c.</i> 1830–7</b></p>
<p>THESE works, none of which were exhibited by Turner, nor therefore given titles by him, have all been associated with Petworth since they were inventoried in the twentieth century, partly because of their similarity to the Petworth interiors with figures painted in body colour on blue <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/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> (CCXLIV) and partly because they relate to such exhibited pictures associated with Petworth as <i>Jessica, Lord Percy under Attainder</i> and <i>Watteau Study</i>
(Nos. 333 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-jessica-t03887" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T03887</span></a>], 338 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-lucy-countess-of-carlisle-and-dorothy-percys-visit-to-their-father-lord-percy-when-n00515" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00515</span></a>] and 340 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-watteau-study-by-fresnoys-rules-n00514" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00514</span></a>]). It has recently been discovered by Patrick Youngblood, however, that at least one of these <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>paintings</span></a>, that formerly known as <i>Music Party, Petworth</i> (No. 447 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-music-party-east-cowes-castle-n03550" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03550</span></a>]), shows an interior at East Cowes Castle. In fact the origins of this picture are even more complex; see the entry for this work. It is probably a mistake to attach these works too closely to any specific location, though Turner's imagination was clearly stimulated by the social life at these two houses in which, through his friendship with Lord Egremont and John Nash, he was particularly at home.</p>
<p>The dating of these works also depends on that of the paintings mentioned above, which were exhibited in 1830 and 1831, together with further scenes of figures in interiors such as <i>Pilate washing his Hands</i>, also exhibited in 1830 (No. 332 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-pilate-washing-his-hands-n00510" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00510</span></a>]), and <i>Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego</i>, exhibited in 1832 (No. 346 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-shadrach-meshach-and-abednego-in-the-burning-fiery-furnace-n00517" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00517</span></a>]). <i>Rembrandt's Daughter</i>, exhibited in 1827 (No. 238), and <i>Boccaccio</i>, exhibited the following year and also associated with East Cowes Castle (No. 244 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-boccaccio-relating-the-tale-of-the-bird-cage-n00507" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00507</span></a>]), are perhaps slightly less advanced in style than these unfinished interiors which seem to form a series painted over a number of years up to 1837, the year that Lord Egremont's death bought an end to Turner's association with Petworth (see under No. 449 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-interior-of-a-great-house-the-drawing-room-east-cowes-castle-n01988" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01988</span></a>]). All, save No. 444 [<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-lady-in-a-van-dyck-costume-n05511" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05511</span></a>], reflect a renewed interest in the work of Rembrandt, seen with Turner's own emphasis on light and colour.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, pp. 44–5; Gowing 1966, p. 36; Wilton 1979, pp. 208–10; Youngblood 1983, pp. 16–17.</p>
<p><b>449. </b>[<span>N01988</span>]<b> Interior at Petworth</b> <i>c.</i> 1837</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (1988)</p>
<p>Canvas, 35 3/4 × 48 (91 × 122)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1906, returned to the National Gallery 1956, and to the Tate Gallery 1961.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> New York, Chicago and Toronto 1946–7 (51, pl. 43); New York, St Louis and San Francisco 1956–7 (113, repr. in colour p. 18); R.A. 1974–5 (339, repr.).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> MacColl 1920, p. 30; Falk 1938, pp. 97–8, 143; Davies 1946, p. 154; Clark 1949, p. 103; Clare 1951, p. 79, repr. p. 74; Davies 1959, p. 100; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 45, colour pl. xviii; Reynolds 1969, pp. 135–7, colour pl. 114; Gaunt 1971, p. 8, colour pl. 35; Herrmann 1975, pp. 37, 233, colour pl. 134; Wilton 1979, p. 210, pl. 222; Youngblood 1983, pp. 17, 31–2, pl. 3.</p>
<p>Although identified as Petworth when first listed in the National Gallery inventory in 1905 the picture depicts no recognisable room. Youngblood, however, sees the setting as a modification of the Marble Hall (<i>op. cit.</i>, pl. 20) with the fireplace replaced by a large open arch; Turner had shown the Marble Hall in more than one of his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/gouache" title="Glossary definition for 'Gouache'"><span>gouaches</span></a> of Petworth (e.g. CCXLIV-116, repr. Youngblood <i>op. cit.</i>, pl. 21). In any case, the picture seems to be the culmination of a series of oil paintings of interiors associated with Petworth (see Nos. 445–8). David Thomas, in an unpublished lecture, has suggested that this picture represents Turner's reaction to the news of his friend and patron Lord Egremont's death in 1837. The suggestion of a catafalque with coat-of-arms, surrounded by dogs, and the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculptures</span></a> that possibly allude to Lord Egremont's collection of antique and contemporary examples, support this. All is in a state of dissolution, above all from the power of light flooding in from the right.</p>
<p>The heavy drying-crackle in the foreground, rare in Turner's work, indicates his haste. Before restoration in 1974 the gaps left by the shrinking of the top layers of paint revealed a layer of bright red underlying much of the foreground.</p>
<p><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/>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
animals: mammals arch architecture couch destruction dog - non-specific domestic door emotions, concepts and ideas England England, South East England, Southern features formal qualities furnishings gestural hall interiors objects Petworth, Petworth House places Sussex - non-specific Sussex, West UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions universal concepts