J.M.W. TURNER R.A.
(1775 - 1851)
THE SKY AT DAWN
Provenance
H.A.J. Munro of Novar
J.P. Heseltine
Ruskin Galleries, 1935
Allan Dawson, by descent until 1986
Private Collection
Literature
A.J. Finberg, Turner’s Newly Identified Yorkshire Sketchbook, The Connoisseur, October. 1935, pp. 185–7
A.J. Finberg, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, 1961, pp. 286-7
I. Warrell, Turner's Sketchbooks, 2014, pp.134-135 , illustrated
This remarkably spontaneous depiction of the sun appearing through clouds at dawn originally came from a page in a half-filled sketchbook which was given by Turner to his friend and patron H.A.J. Munro of Novar. Munro’s note on a piece of paper pasted inside the front cover describes it as having been given to him whilst travelling with Turner in France and Switzerland in 1836. However, the sheet is watermarked ‘J.Whatman 1822’ and Finberg has convincingly identified the sketchbook as dating to 19th November – 14th December, 1824 when Turner visited his friend and patron Walter Fawkes at Farnley Hall in Yorkshire.
