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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Bristol and Malmesbury 1791 > Subjects Related to the Bristol and ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Malmesbury Abbey from the South-East 1791

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Malmesbury Abbey from the South-East’ 1791
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Malmesbury Abbey from the South-East 1791
D00112
Turner Bequest VII E
Pencil, watercolour and pen and brown ink on white wove paper, 181 x 253 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Its dimensions and well-used character, as well as the subject of the view, suggest that this is a leaf from the Bristol and Malmesbury sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest VI). The view is similar to that on Tate D00086–D00087 (Turner Bequest VI 12, 13), though with a different foreground, and was perhaps undertaken in an attempt to bring the complete subject of those two leaves on to one page. The composition is repeated in an independent watercolour now in the Bury Art Gallery.1
There are colour trials on the verso (D41454).
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.303 no.26, reproduced.
Technical notes:
The sheet is rubbed, stained and dirty, with grey and brown patches of colour superimposed on the design.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Malmesbury Abbey from the South-East 1791 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-malmesbury-abbey-from-the-south-east-r1140428, accessed 20 April 2024.