'The West Tower of Malmesbury Abbey', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

The West Tower of Malmesbury Abbey

From Subjects Related to the Bristol and Malmesbury Tour

Date 1791

MediumGraphite and watercolour on paper

Dimensionssupport: 277 x 21 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D00110

Turner Bequest VII C

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

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

The West Tower of Malmesbury Abbey 1791

D00110
Turner Bequest VII C

Pencil, watercolour, bodycolour and pen and brown ink on white wove paper, 277 x 213 mm

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

A study used, as Finberg noted, in conjunction with Tate D00111 (Turner Bequest VII D), for the finished watercolour in Norwich Castle Museum,1 exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1792 (436). With its free and energetic drawing in brown ink, reminiscent of the work of Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827), this is stylistically rather different from most of the studies Turner made at Malmesbury in 1791. See also Tate D00111.

Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.303 no.25, reproduced.

Verso:

Colour trials; inscribed in pencil in a later hand ‘3a’; 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.