A group of drawing-exercises made by the young J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). He began studies at the Royal Academy Schools in 1789, first gaining access to live models in 1792. Producing these figure-studies by the hundreds had become established since the Renaissance as core preparation for aspiring professional artists. By 1799 Turner's virtuosity had earned him promotion to Associate of the Royal Academy. After that, he proceeded almost uninterrupted from success to success for the remainder of his long life. Yet these suave renderings of the body from the last decade of the 18th century are seldom exhibited and seldom compared to later work produced in the more familiar style of the artist's maturity.
