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 52 Recto:
Distant Hills on the Moors near Bowes 1817
D12387
Turner Bequest CLVII 52
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 185 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘B’ to right, ‘cloud’, ‘4’ and ‘4’ across the central band of hills, and ‘towards Bowes’ bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘52’ bottom right (now very faint)
Stamped in black ‘CLVII – 52’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is half of a two-page sketch, continuing to the left on folio 51 verso opposite (D12386). 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 isolated profiles of hills towards the bottom. The main sketch is a distant range of hills running above the centre for almost the full width of the two pages, with the number ‘4’s possibly indicating gradations of tone in relation to other numbers on the opposite page. Turner also notes ‘cloud’ just above the hills. At the top is a separate skyline, labelled ‘B’, perhaps indicating Bowes.
Verso:
Blank

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-r1139388, accessed 19 September 2024.