Introduction Introduction

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute | Williamstown, Massachusetts Nineteenth-Century European Paintings Distributed by Yale University Press | new Haven and at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

volume two

Edited by Sarah Lees

With an essay by Richard Rand and technical reports by Sandra L. Webber

With contributions by Katharine J. Albert, Philippe Bordes, Dan Cohen, Kathryn Calley Galitz, Alexis Goodin, Marc Gotlieb, John House, Simon Kelly, Richard Kendall, Kathleen M. Morris, Leslie Hill Paisley, Kelly Pask, Elizabeth A. Pergam, Kathryn A. Price, Mark A. Roglán, James Rosenow, Zoë Samels, and Fronia E. Wissman

4 5 Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Francine Clark Art Institute is published with the assistance of the Getty Foundation and support from the National Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Endowment for the Arts. Nineteenth-century European paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute / edited by Sarah Lees ; with an essay by Richard Rand and technical reports by Sandra L. Webber ; with contributions by Katharine J. Albert, Philippe Bordes, Dan Cohen, Kathryn Calley Galitz, Alexis Goodin, Marc Gotlieb, John House, Simon Kelly, Richard Kendall, Kathleen M. Morris, Leslie Hill Paisley, Kelly Pask, Elizabeth A. Produced by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Pergam, Kathryn A. Price, Mark A. Roglán, James Rosenow, 225 South Street, Williamstown, Massachusetts 01267 Zoë Samels, Fronia E. Wissman. www.clarkart.edu volumes cm Includes bibliographical references and index. Curtis R. Scott, Director of Publications ISBN 978-1-935998-09-9 (clark hardcover : alk. paper) — and Information Resources ISBN 978-0-300-17965-1 (yale hardcover : alk. paper) Dan Cohen, Special Projects Editor 1. Painting, European—19th century—Catalogs. 2. Painting— Katherine Pasco Frisina, Production Editor Massachusetts—Williamstown—Catalogs. 3. Sterling and Anne Roecklein, Managing Editor Francine Clark Art Institute—Catalogs. I. Lees, Sarah, editor Michael Agee, Photographer of compilation. II. Rand, Richard. III. Webber, Sandra L. IV. Title. Laurie Glover, Visual Resources V. Title: 19th-century European paintings at the Sterling and Julie Walsh, Program Assistant Francine Clark Art Institute. Mari Yoko Hara and Michelle Noyer-Granacki, ND457.S74 2012 Publications Interns 759.9409’0340747441—dc23 2012030510 Designed by Susan Marsh Composed in Meta by Matt Mayerchak Copyedited by Sharon Herson Details: Bibliography edited by Sophia Wagner-Serrano title page: Camille Pissarro, The Louvre from the Pont Neuf Index by Kathleen M. Friello (cat. 253) Proofread by June Cuff ner opposite copyright page: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Production by The Production Department, Jane Avril (cat. 331) Whately, Massachusetts preceding page 474: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Onions (cat. 280) Printed on 135 gsm Gardapat Kiara pages 890–91: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Women of Color separations and printing by Trifolio, Verona Amphissa (cat. 3)

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Printed and bound in Italy 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Joseph Mallord William Turner

Small raised rings in the upper left may be material dripped onto the surface prior to the painting’s execution. There is no 340 ​| ​What You Will! ​1822 varnish, and the surface has a fairly even low luster, except for a few glossy spots due to local paint colors. There may Oil on canvas, 49.8 x 54.3 be a few retouches in the upper right sky on either side of Gift of the Manton Foundation in memory of Sir Edwin the left tree. These strokes together with the palest stripe in the left sky show somewhat differently than the rest of the and Lady Manton pigments under ultraviolet light. 2007.8.107 There is no ground layer on the painted side, but there may be a size layer. The dark gray commercial preparation J. M. W. Turner’s homage to the French painter Jean- on the reverse probably gives the picture a bit more sup- Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) is immediately apparent port than the paper sheet could provide on its own. There in both the subject and the coloration of the painting are occasional skips in the paint application, revealing the entitled What You Will!, the artist’s sole contribution paper below. The warm tonality of the paper may be deep- to the Royal Academy exhibition of 1822. As a stage ening slightly with age. Examination in infrared revealed a broad sketch, possibly in graphite, visible as hatching in the for the musical, courtly, and courtship-related activi- large tree foliage, circular marks for the ground foliage, zig- ties of a group of silk-gowned ladies and stockinged zag lines for the middle-ground tree line, and an outline for gentlemen, the parkland setting recalls the scenes the large rock in the lower left. The paint application, done of dances and musical entertainments in Watteau’s with small sable brushes, is fairly dry, with very little gloss paintings, such as Les Plaisirs du Bal (Dulwich Pic- and almost no impasto. Some paint is quite granular under ture Gallery, London), while the lush greens and the low magnification and some pigments may contain a color- velvety reds that Turner uses to create the enchant- less additive, possibly used as a drier. ing environment replicate Watteau’s signature color schemes. The influence of the French painter on Turner is a fascinating subject in and of itself, seen 1. Redding 1858, vol. 1, p. 199. 2. Thornbury 1862, vol. 1, p. 216. even in Turner’s play on words in the title of this work; 3. Thornbury 1862, vol. 1, p. 220. when said aloud, the first two words are the cockney 4. Ibid. pronunciation of “Watteau.” 1 What You Will!, how- 5. Woollcombe recorded meeting Turner at a dinner hosted ever, also demonstrates the astonishing breadth of by William Eastlake on 27 Aug. 1813 and subsequently Turner’s interests that led John Constable to declare having breakfast with him on 1 Sept. See Smiles 1989, that his rival had “a wonderful range of mind.” 2 For p. 10. not only does What You Will! make clear that Turner 6. BJ 213–24. The Bequest consists of works that remained was engaging with the tradition of the fête galante, with the artist at his death and were subsequently given to the national collections. both in France and England, but the small, evocative 7. BJ 225. work also stands as the artist’s first interpretation of 8. BJ 225b. the writings of England’s most illustrious literary fig- 9. Thornbury 1862, vol. 1, p. 220. ure, William Shakespeare. Furthermore, the painting is 10. The only other known oil sketches are a group painted on important evidence of Turner’s lifelong study of trends mahogany veneer that have been dated to c. 1807. See in color theory. BJ 177–94. These multivalent concerns were ignored or mis- 11. John Gage speculates that the reasons behind the art- understood by the critics when the painting was first ist’s turning away from oils for sketching outdoors were both technical and conceptual. Not only did Turner find exhibited at the Royal Academy. The critic of the Edin- working with oils outside to be difficult, but his reliance burgh Magazine exploited the unusual title of the paint- on his memory of the scene superceded his need to ing to disparage the work, using the familiar format of record the effect on the spot. See Gage 1969, pp. 36–39. a dialogue between two visitors to the annual exhibit. 12. Thornbury 1862, vol. 1, p. 221. Spectator A introduces Turner as “without exception the 13. See Smiles 1989, p. 11; and Bower 1990, p. 97. greatest of living painters,” but calls the artist’s single 14. Bower 1990, p. 97. Neither of these findings, however, example “a little rock” which has “the appropriate title pertains to the Clark work, in which there is no ground of ‘What you will!’” In response, his companion, Specta- layer on the painted surface (though the unpainted side has a dark gray preparation) and the original paper color tor B, is even more explicitly derogatory of the painting, was buff. See Technical Report. saying, “It is not a picture at all, but a mere imperti- 15. Thornbury 1862, vol. 1, p. 220. nence.” 3 The description of the painting as “a scrap of 16. Butlin and Joll 1984, vol. 1, p. 134. spoilt canvas” in the New Monthly Magazine likewise

816 340 denies What You Will! the status of a work of art.4 In 1847) and now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.8 a similar vein, Robert Hunt, the critic of the Examiner, He speculates that Turner saw this painting during an wrote that “Mr. Turner has nothing of Art this season undocumented trip to Paris in the autumn of 1821. Ian in the Exhibition. He has only a piece of coloured can- Warrell takes up this suggestion, citing sketchbooks vas.” 5 The reviewer of the Literary Gazette likewise dis- TB CCXI and CCLVIII ( Britain, London) as evidence misses the work as “a sketch, and no more”; however, for the 1821 trip.9 alone of the critics, he connects Turner’s use of color As we have seen, much was made of the seem- to “the style of Watteau.” 6 Although his comment is ingly whimsical title; not a single critic, however, brief, the critic for The Gentleman’s Magazine stands recognized its literary origins: Shakespeare’s subtitle out for his praise of the small painting as a “splendid for his comedy Twelfth Night. As Andrew Wilton has little piece of colouring.” 7 pointed out, Turner does not illustrate a specific scene While Turner’s exposure to the works of Claude Lor- from the play, but rather combines elements from Act rain (1604/5–1682), in English collections as well as II scene 5 and Act III scene 4, both of which take place in the Louvre, has been well documented, his oppor- in the garden of the Countess Olivia.10 In these scenes, tunities to see paintings by Watteau are more difficult as often in the plays of Shakespeare, the garden or to establish. The English public could see Les Plaisirs woodland is a place to escape from the rigid rules of du Bal at the Dulwich Picture Gallery by 1814. In 1985, society. Thus, it is in Olivia’s garden that one of the Selby Whittingham first proposed that the source for central schemes of Twelfth Night is played out: Maria, the composition and color scheme of What You Will! Sir Toby Belch (Olivia’s uncle), and his friend Sir was Watteau’s La Perspective, then probably in the Andrew Aguecheek forge a letter to Malvolio, Olivia’s collection of the miniature painter Daniel Saint (1778– major domo, to convince him that he is the object of

817 Joseph Mallord William Turner

Olivia’s love. Subsequently the trio hides while Mal- In the small-scale, fancy picture format of these volio, clad in yellow stockings, confronts Olivia and paintings, Turner was acknowledging a debt to the obliquely refers to the letter. English painter (1755–1834 ), whose A possible reason for the critics’ universal neglect literary, costume pictures Turner admired.18 Both Sto- of the Twelfth Night identification is that Turner had thard and Turner provided illustrations for Samuel Rog- never before exhibited a Shakespeare-inspired sub- ers’s poem Italy (published in 1830), and Stothard’s ject. The Bard’s plays provided ample themes for other relationship with Rogers can be traced to as early as painters, and, indeed, they supplied fellow Royal Aca- 1792.19 Although Turner’s unsociability has become demician Henry Howard (1769–1847) with source mate- central to his biography as England’s artist-genius, rial for two paintings he exhibited in 1822.11 Turner his social connections were, in fact, of significance to went on to exhibit Jessica (1830; Petworth House, his artistic practice.20 Not only did Turner learn about West Sussex), Juliet and Her Nurse (1836; Collección Watteau through the work of Stothard, but also he was de Arte Amelia Lacroze de Fortabat, Buenos Aires), directly exposed to the work of Watteau through Rog- The Grand Canal: Scene—A Street in Venice (1837; The ers, whose extensive collection of paintings included Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gar- La Lorgneuse (location unknown), the smaller framed dens, San Marino) and Queen Mab’s Cave (1846; Tate painting in Watteau Study. Britain, London).12 Verses from The Merchant of Venice These artistic and social connections extend to the accompanied the 1830 and 1837 exhibitions and lines history of ownership of What You Will!, which was pur- from A Midsummer Night’s Dream appeared in 1846. chased by the sculptor Sir Francis Chantrey in the year In its dual Watteau and Shakespeare references, then, of its execution. There is some debate over whether What You Will! should be considered an inaugural work Turner painted the work with Chantrey in mind—as in Turner’s oeuvre, prefatory to some of his most cele­ Gage points out, the prominence of garden statuary brated subject-pictures of the following decade. in the painting might lead to such a conclusion.21 Even While it was Turner’s choice of the fête galante more suggestive is the fact that in 1819, Chantrey and and distinctive coloration that called attention to the Turner were both in Rome, where Turner had made fact that his 1822 exhibit was an homage to Watteau, sketches of antique statues at the Vatican. Turner it was the artist himself and his studio practice that used these sketches as the basis for the statues in formed the subject of his 1831 exhibit: Watteau Study What You Will!22 by Fresnoy’s Rules ( , London).13 Through Though diminutive in scale, What You Will! is rich John Ruskin, a conversation between the artist and in literary and artistic allusions, pointing to Turner’s Rev. William Kingsley came to light, in which Turner varied interests and influences. Executed in the after- confessed that “he had learned more from Watteau math of his long-delayed first trip to Italy of 1819, the than from any other painter.” 14 The couplet from an canvas, so clearly indebted to Jean-Antoine Watteau’s English translation of Charles du Fresnoy’s (1611– style, is also a testament to Turner’s understanding of 1668) De Arte Graphica that Turner included with the the historical roots of that artist’s oeuvre. While Wat- painting makes clear that it was his color theory that teau brought the lush Venetian pastorals of Giorgione formed the primary appeal of Watteau to the English and Titian into the eighteenth century with such bril- painter.15 In particular, Turner adopted the concept liance and success, however, the lack of critical appre- that the employment of white could alter the spatial ciation of What You Will! reflects the contemporary perception of an object, a theory that he applied in expectations of Turner to produce large-scale paint- his Rockets and Blue Lights (Close at Hand) to Warn ings embodying the drama of nature, not the intrigues Steamboats of Shoal Water (cat. 342). In his ground- of Shakespearean comedy. EP breaking study of Turner’s use of color, John Gage called Watteau Study Turner’s “first fully ‘theoretical’ provenance Sir (1822–d. 1841); painting.” 16 As such, the work has generated numer- Lady Chantrey, his wife, by descent (1841–61, sale, Christie’s, London, 15 June 1861, no. 91, sold to Agnew’s); [Agnew’s, ous interpretations.17 Nevertheless, while color is cen- London, from 1861]; R. Newsham; J. H. Nettlefold