'The Tweed, with Rainbow', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

The Tweed, with Rainbow

From Abbotsford Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CCLXVII

Date 1831

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 113 x 185 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D25947

Turner Bequest CCLXVII 11 a

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

Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Abbotsford Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 11 Verso:

The Tweed, with Rainbow 1831

D25947
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 11a

Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 113 x 185 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘grey’ top left, ‘w’ top right, ?‘Galash’ right, ‘dark’ lower centre

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

Finberg has identified this sketch as the River ‘Tweed, with [a] Rainbow’.1 The sketch falls between views of Melrose in the sketchbook, and an inscription on the page may read ‘Galash’, suggesting that this is a view of Galashiels from Melrose. Other inscriptions note colours and tones: ‘Grey’, ‘w[hite]’, ‘B’ [brown or blue], ‘Red’ and ‘Dark’. The rainbow is indicated by two arcs at the centre of the page. Turner visited Melrose on 8 August 1831.

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

Finberg 1909, II, p.857.

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.