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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Midlands 1794-1802 > Drawings Made on the Midland Tour > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Eliseg's Pillar 1794

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Eliseg's Pillar’ 1794
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Eliseg’s Pillar 1794
D00334
Turner Bequest XXI H 1
Pencil on white wove paper, 138 x 212 mm; 276 x 212 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[...] | REVOR | Hall’ on the pillar, and ‘Qoad [sic] hujus veteris Monumenti | Superst | [?Dieu] [‘ex’ inserted above caret] oculis remotum Et neglectum Tandem restutit T Lloyd | de Trevor Hall ad 1779’ bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘XXI H1’ top right, ascending vertically

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The Pillar of Eliseg stands a little to the north of the ruins of Valle Crucis Abbey on the banks of the Eglwyseg River, which joins the Dee to the north west of Llangollen.
Turner’s Latin text is transcribed from the inscription on the pillar. A recent transcription and translation runs as follows: ‘Quod hujus veteris Monumenti Superest Diu ex oculis remotum Et neglectum | Tandem restituit | T. LLOYD | de | TREVOR HALL | A. D. | M D C C L X X I X (That which remains of this old monument, long removed from eyes and neglected, T. Lloyd of Trevor Hall finally restored AD 1779)’.1
1
‘18th Century Inscription’, Project Elisig, accessed 2012, http://www.projecteliseg.org/?page_id=173.
Technical notes:
The sheet is folded, with the present horizontal study on one half, and an upright view of Valle Crucis Abbey on the other (Tate D00335; Turner Bequest XXI H 2). There is an inscription on the verso of the present half of the sheet (D40040).

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Eliseg’s Pillar 1794 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-elisegs-pillar-r1141059, accessed 20 April 2024.