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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Abbotsford Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner An Interior (Perhaps the Ante Room) at Abbotsford 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘An Interior (Perhaps the Ante Room) at Abbotsford’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 65 Recto:
An Interior (Perhaps the Ante Room) at Abbotsford 1831
D26042
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 67
Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 113 x 185 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘67’ bottom left inverted and ‘271’ top left inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVII – 67’ top left inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook inverted is a sketch of an interior in Sir Walter Scott’s home, Abbotsford. The lack of detail in the drawing makes it difficult to identify, but the archway at the end of the room suggests that it may be the view from the ante room to the armoury. There is a bust or helmet at the left of the room, an object on a plinth at the right, and through the archway a square with a row of vertical dashes may represent a door with a display of swords and daggers (or dirks) above it.
There is a sketch of the armoury on folios 65 verso–66 (D26043–D26044; CCLXVII 67a–68). For references to further sketches of Abbotsford, see folio 62 verso (D26037; CCLXVII 64a).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘An Interior (Perhaps the Ante Room) at Abbotsford 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-an-interior-perhaps-the-ante-room-at-abbotsford-r1134410, accessed 24 April 2024.