'Bisham Church and Abbey, from Mid-River, Looking South', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Bisham Church and Abbey, from Mid-River, Looking South

From Thames, from Reading to Walton Sketchbook

Turner Bequest XCV

Date 1805

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 259 x 367 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Reference

D05909

Turner Bequest XCV 5

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Bisham Church and Abbey, from Mid-River, Looking South 1805

D05909
Turner Bequest XCV 5

Pencil on white wove paper, 259 x 367 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Calm’ lower left of centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘5’ bottom right
Stamped in lack ‘CXV 5’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

This was a right-hand page from the sketchbook. From Marlow (for which see Tate D05906; Turner Bequest XCV 2), Turner seems to have gone about a mile downstream to look back at the town from Winter Hill (see Tate D05907; Turner Bequest XCV 3). There, he was able to see Bisham in the distance on the left. This drawing looks south to Bisham, which is seen more closely from the river with the Norman tower of All Saints Church and the Tudor mansion, formerly Bisham Abbey, in the right distance. Turner notes the calm surface of the Thames as it passes in the foreground. A stain on the right of the leaf matches one on D05907 and D05910; Turner Bequest XCV 3, 6.

Verso:

Blank. Laid down.

David Blayney Brown
January 2009

Read this catalogue entry in full

This catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012.