Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. (1775-1851)

The present drawing dates to the mid to late 1790s and was executed at Dr Thomas Monro's Academy in the Adelphi. It is likely to be a copy from a work by John Robert Cozens (1752-1797), who had long been a patient of Monro's, and whose work Monro collected and used for teaching younger artists. Turner and his contemporary Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) were both pupils of the academy, and whilst the present drawing is in Turner's hand, they often worked together on drawings after Cozens, with Girtin drawing the outlines and Turner adding the washes.

William Agnew, who gave this drawing to Rugby, was the second generation of the eponymous dealers, and with his brother, Thomas, founded its London branch in 1860.

We are grateful to Andrew Wilton and Ian Warrell for their help in preparing this catalogue entry.