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

The subject is derived from the pencil study on folio 50 recto opposite (D00457; Turner Bequest XXIV 48). This watercolour version of it was presumably executed in connection with the commission from John Landseer noted on the flyleaf at the front of the book (D41250). There is a further mention of the subject inside the back cover (D41253), dated ‘Novr 2 1800’, and the technique of this drawing suggests that it was executed then, rather than at the time of (or just after) the Isle of Wight tour. Dearden notes the way in which Turner endows the rather foursquare architecture of the church tower with greater elegance in this version.

The recto is blank, and discoloured from the exposure of the verso. It is stamped in black ‘XXIV – 47a’ above the Turner Bequest monogram below the centre, with the number repeated in pencil towards the bottom centre.

Technical notes:

Except for wide margins protected by its former mount, the work’s use in the extended display of the First Loan Collection has resulted in severe deterioration of the pigments and discoloration of the paper which, as Finberg and Warrell note, prompted the removal of the work from the display by 1909.