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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner New Abbey, near Dumfries 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘New Abbey, near Dumfries’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 47 Recto:
New Abbey, near Dumfries 1831
D25853
Turner Bequest CCLXVI 47
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 187 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘47’ top right and ‘342’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVI 47’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of two sketches that Turner made of the interior of New Abbey near Dumfries. The view is taken from the south transept and looks across the nave to the north transept. The view makes the most of the remaining vaulting to show how magnificent it once was, but contrasts this with the ruined wall at the top left. Two small diagrams at the bottom of the page were drawn by Turner to record the shape of the columns in cross sections and side on.
There is another sketch of the interior on folio 46 verso (D25852) and there is more information about Turner’s visit to New Abbey on folio 46 (D25851).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘New Abbey, near Dumfries 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2009, 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-new-abbey-near-dumfries-r1134220, accessed 26 April 2024.