'The Hot Wells, Clifton', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

The Hot Wells, Clifton

From Bristol and Malmesbury Sketchbook

Turner Bequest VI

Date 1791

MediumGraphite and watercolour on paper

Dimensionssupport: 185 x 263 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D00074

Turner Bequest VI 3

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Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Bristol and Malmesbury Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 3 Recto:

The Hot Wells, Clifton 1791

D00074
Turner Bequest VI 3

Pencil and wash on white laid paper, 185 x 263 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘The Back View of the Hot Wells from Gloustershire [sic] | side [inserted above]’ top right, ‘BRISTOL’ on transom of boat, centre foreground, and with numerals and initials of colours ‘W’, ‘B’, ‘U’ within drawing
Stamped in black ‘VI 3’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

Compare the slightly later watercolour derived from this drawing (Tate D00389; Turner Bequest XXIII O), which was probably used as the basis for a Royal Academy exhibit in 1793: The Rising Squall – Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol.1 For stylistic reasons noted there, the work listed in Wilton’s 1979 catalogue of Turner’s watercolours under this title (Bristol Museum and Art Gallery)2 cannot be the exhibited watercolour.

See Andrew Wilton, Turner in his Time, London 1987, p.[8], pl.5.

Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.302 no.18, pl.8.

Verso:

Blank; stamped in black ink with Turner Bequest monogram

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

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.