'Tabley Water Tower, and a Tower on a Bridge', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Tabley Water Tower, and a Tower on a Bridge

From Tabley No.2 Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CIV

Date 1808

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 98 x 162 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D06979

Turner Bequest CIV 86

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

Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Tabley No.2 Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 87 Recto:

Tabley Water Tower, and a Tower on a Bridge 1808

D06979
Turner Bequest CIV 86

Pencil on white laid paper, 98 x 162 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘86’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘CIV 86’ top left, inverted

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

Drawn with the sketchbook inverted. See also verso (D06980; Turner Bequest CIV 86a) and folio 88 verso (D06982; Turner Bequest CIV 87a) for variants of a tower or arch on a bridge. In the present case, the tower on the left appears to be the water tower that Sir John Leicester had built in the mere or Moat at Tabley. See Introduction to the sketchbook for Turner’s visit to Tabley in 1808 and his omission of the tower from his first drawings and sketch of Tabley House from the Moat, and subsequent inclusion of it, presumably on the instructions of Sir John Leicester.

The separate drawing on the right, as in the following drawings, shows a tower incorporated into a bridge. Perhaps Turner was amusing himself as an amateur architect.

David Blayney Brown
May 2010

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.