'The Interior of the Galilee Porch, Ely Cathedral', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

The Interior of the Galilee Porch, Ely Cathedral

From Drawings Made on the Midland Tour

Date 1794

MediumGraphite and watercolour on paper

Dimensionssupport: 271 x 195 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D00358

Turner Bequest XXII E

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

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

The Interior of the Galilee Porch, Ely Cathedral 1794

D00358
Turner Bequest XXII E

Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 271 x 195 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXII E’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Exhibition history

References

Finberg’s suggestion that the subject is the West Porch of Chichester Cathedral was later amended in a MS note: ‘This is Lincoln Cathedral with the double arcading of St Hugh’,1 perhaps implying a connection with the untraced watercolour St Hughe’s the Burgundian’s Porch at Lincoln Cathedral, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1795.2 However, the distinctive architectural details do appear to be those of Ely Cathedral’s Galilee Porch.

Tate catalogue files.

Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.313 no.123.

Verso:

Blank; ochre and grey paint smears. The traces of colour on this side of the sheet appear to be connected with work on another drawing, of smaller dimensions, laid on top of it.

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.