'Jedburgh Abbey from the West; and Inscriptions by Turner', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Jedburgh Abbey from the West; and Inscriptions by Turner

From Berwick Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CCLXV

Date 1831

MediumPen and ink and graphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 96 x 59 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D41232

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Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Berwick Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Inside Front Cover:

Jedburgh Abbey from the West; and Inscriptions by Turner 1831

D41232

Pencil on white wove paper, 96 x 59 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner at the top of the page
Inscribed at the left of the page running vertically, ‘3 [?]with [?]India Proofs of | mine’
Inscribed in black ink by H.S. Trimmer ‘no 217.. | 55 sketches in pencil | [signed] H.S. Trimmer’ top right descending vertically
Signed in brown ink by Charles Turner ‘C Turner’ beneath Trimmer’s signature descending vertically
Signed in pencil by John Prescott Knight ‘JPK’ beneath Charles Turner’s signature descending vertically
Signed in pencil by Charles Lock Eastlake ‘C.L.E.’ beneath Knight’s signature descending vertically
Blindstamped with the Turner Bequest stamp centre

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

At the top of the page there is a pencil inscription by Turner:

         15
          3
          4
          5
         13
Railway   6 6
         Jedburgh

With the sketchbook turned to the right is a sketch that David Wallace-Hadrill recognised as Jedburgh Abbey.1 This is the west end of the abbey where there is a rose window in the gable and an ornate arched entrance. The sketch continues onto folio 1 (D25644) where the door is shown along with several other architectural details. In his attempt to make the sketch fit into the available space on the page Turner has made the abbey appear more squat than it actually is. Above the sketch to the left is a small study of part of two arches, probably from the clerestory level of the north or south sides of the abbey.

There are further sketches of Jedburgh Abbey on folios 10 verso and 11 verso and 19 (D25660, D25662), and perhaps further sketches on folios 13, 23 verso and 48 verso (D25664, D25683, D25731), as well as in the Abbotsford sketchbook (Tate D26039; Turner Bequest CCLXVII 65 a).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

David Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Berwick CCLXV checklist’, [circa 1992], Tate catalogue files.

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.