J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > North of England Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Kirkstall Abbey: Distant View from the South-East, with the Valley of the Aire 1797

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Kirkstall Abbey: Distant View from the South-East, with the Valley of the Aire’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 16 Recto:
Kirkstall Abbey: Distant View from the South-East, with the Valley of the Aire 1797
D00921
Turner Bequest XXXIV 15
Pencil on white wove paper, 210 x 270 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘15’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXIV 15’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, the view is taken from Kirkstall Hill. David Hill notes that the smoke in the left distance denotes Kirkstall Forge. This detail also appears in Thomas Girtin’s 1800 watercolour of the same view (British Museum, London; 1855–2–14–53) and Hill proposes that Girtin made use of Turner’s drawing for his own work, omitting and simplifying in a way that typifies the temperamental and creative differences between the two artists. The fact that both were involved in working for the Lascelles family at the end of the decade points to a strong possibility that the two old friends and rivals were in close touch, though Turner was notoriously reluctant to share his working processes with others.
For further studies of Kirkstall, see under folio 11 recto (D00916; Turner Bequest XXXIV 10a).
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Kirkstall Abbey: Distant View from the South-East, with the Valley of the Aire 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-kirkstall-abbey-distant-view-from-the-south-east-with-the-r1150077, accessed 24 April 2024.