'Rain Clouds over Cross Fell', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Rain Clouds over Cross Fell

From Cockermouth Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CX

Date 1809

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 116 x 185 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D07544

Turner Bequest CX 6

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

Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Cockermouth Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 6 Recto:

Rain Clouds over Cross Fell 1809

D07544
Turner Bequest CX 6

Pencil on white laid paper, 116 x 185 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Cross Fell’ at centre and ‘Bluish’, ‘Warm’, ‘Cloud’, ‘Mist’, ‘Rain clouds with doubtful | breaks of light and shade’, and ‘Light’ within sky, from left to right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘6’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CX 6’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

One of the highest peaks of the Pennines, Cross Fell rises east of Penrith, so Turner must have made the drawing around the time of his visit to Lowther Castle, just south of the town; see Introduction to the sketchbook.

Verso:

Blank

David Blayney Brown
August 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.