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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin View along the Valley of a River towards Distant Hills c.1796

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Thomas Girtin 1775–1802
View along the Valley of a River towards Distant Hills c.1796
D36628
Turner Bequest CCCLXXIX 4
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 170 x 230 mm
Watermark ‘J WHATMAN’
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXXIX – 4’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Provenance:
Probably commissioned by Dr Thomas Monro
Monro’s posthumous sale, Christie’s, London, 26–28 June and 1–2 July 1833 (day and lot number not known)
Bought by or on behalf of Turner
This was presumably copied from a view by another artist, possibly Edward Dayes (1763–1804); see the very similar drawing, Tate D36544 (Turner Bequest CCCLXXV 23). The exact viewpoint has not been identified. The inscription on the verso suggests that this is a scene in north Lancashire or southern Westmorland (now Cumbria). Penny Bridge is a village between Ulverston and Coniston.
Verso:
Blank; stained and discoloured with fragments of paper glued to the corners; inscribed, apparently by Thomas Girtin, in pencil ‘from Penny Bridge [?Lancashire]’; inscribed in a later hand ‘42’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘View along the Valley of a River towards Distant Hills c.1796 by Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin’, 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-thomas-girtin-view-along-the-valley-of-a-river-towards-r1141255, accessed 29 March 2024.