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 Abbotsford, the River Front 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Abbotsford, the River Front’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 67 Recto:
Abbotsford, the River Front 1831
D26046
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 69
Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 113 x 185 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ?‘Graham S[...] Br[...] h[...]’ top right
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘69’ bottom left inverted and ‘271’ top left inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVII 69’ top left inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook inverted is a view of Abbotsford from near the River Tweed to the north-west. As Anne Lyles has commented: ‘The view [...] shows how Scott had incorporated into the exterior of the building many traditional features from old Scottish buildings such as crow-stepped gables and distinctive corner turrets.’1 At the top of the page are several small and slight sketches of architectural features. The inscriptions have not been deciphered.
Turner sketched the house from many angles (see folio 67 verso; D26047; CCLXVII 16a for full details).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

1
Lyles 1992, pp.43–4.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Abbotsford, the River Front 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-abbotsford-the-river-front-r1134414, accessed 25 April 2024.