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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > County Durham and Northumberland 1817 > Durham, North Shore, Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant Hills on the Moors near Bowes 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant Hills on the Moors near Bowes’ 1817
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 51 Verso:
Distant Hills on the Moors near Bowes 1817
D12386
Turner Bequest CLVII 51a
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 185 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Green’, ‘3’, ‘2’, ‘1’, and ‘5’ left to right across the central band of hills, and ‘1’ lower centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is half of a two-page sketch, continuing to the right on folio 52 recto opposite (D12387). The drawing is the last of a sequence of mostly unidentified landscapes running from folio 27 verso (D12355) to folio 33 recto (D12366), with a further two on folio 50 recto (D12384) and folios 51 verso–52 recto (D12386, D12387). As discussed in the entry for folio 27 verso, they are all likely to show scenes on the moors and hills around Bowes, south-west of Barnard Castle.
The present drawing view is inscribed ‘towards Bowes’ on the opposite page. The main sketch is a distant range of hills running above the centre for almost the full width of the two pages, with a colour note and numbers on this half perhaps indicating gradations of tone. Towards the bottom of the present page are more profiles of hills, with what seems to be a number ‘1’ inscribed; it is unclear how these relate to the main view.

Matthew Imms
February 2010

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Distant Hills on the Moors near Bowes 1817 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2010, 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-distant-hills-on-the-moors-near-bowes-r1139387, accessed 22 September 2024.