'Bishop's House and Elgin Cathedral', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Bishop's House and Elgin Cathedral

From Inverness Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CCLXXVII

Date 1831

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 104 x 163 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D27204

Turner Bequest CCLXXVII 132 a

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

Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Inverness Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 132 Verso:

Bishop’s House and Elgin Cathedral 1831

D27204
Turner Bequest CCLXXVII 132a

Pencil on off-white wove paper, 104 x 163 mm

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

The partially ruined building in the foreground of this sketch has been identified by David Wallace-Hadrill as the Precentor’s of Elgin Cathedral, although it is often known as the Bishop’s House.1 The house is seen from the north, with the outline of the two towers at the western end of Elgin Cathedral rising above it. The cathedral’s octagonal chapter house can be seen at the left, with part of the east end where there are the remains of a rose window. At the right of the page the sketch is overlaid with other sketches of architectural details.

There is another sketch of the Manse on folio 133 (D270205), and it is seen in a sketch of the cathedral on folio 24 verso (D27080). For references to all of Turner’s sketches of Elgin, see folio 139 (D27215).

Thomas Ardill
May 2010

David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Sketchbook CCLXXVII Inverness’, [circa 1991], Tate catalogue files, [unpaginated].

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.