Joseph Mallord William Turner Wycliffe, on the River Tees near Rokeby 1816
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 26 Recto:
Wycliffe, on the River Tees near Rokeby 1816
D11482
Turner Bequest CXLVII 26
Turner Bequest CXLVII 26
Pencil on white wove paper, 125 x 206 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Stones’, ‘Calm’ in river centre right and ‘Wycliff’ bottom right
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘279’ bottom right and ‘26’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CXLVII 26’ bottom right
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Stones’, ‘Calm’ in river centre right and ‘Wycliff’ bottom right
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘279’ bottom right and ‘26’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CXLVII 26’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.425, CXLVII 26, as ‘“Wycliff.”’.
1979
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, p.365, no.568.
1980
David Hill, Stanley Warburton, Mary Tussey and others, Turner in Yorkshire, exhibition catalogue, York City Art Gallery 1980, p.87, no.137.
1982
Stanley Warburton, Turner and Dr. Whitaker, exhibition catalogue, Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museums, Burnley 1982, no.52.
1984
David Hill, In Turner’s Footsteps: Through the Hills and Dales of Northern England, London 1984, pp.31, 70 reproduced, 107, 127.
1990
Frank Milner, J.M.W. Turner: Paintings in Merseyside Collections: Walker Art Gallery; Sudley Art Gallery; Williamson Art Gallery; Lady Lever Art Gallery; Liverpool University Art Gallery, Liverpool 1990, no.13 reproduced.
1990
Eric Shanes, Turner’s England 1810–38, London 1990, p.86, no.62.
2006
Emma House, Michael Rudd and Paul Clark, Joseph Mallord William Turner: Tours of Durham and Richmondshire, exhibition catalogue, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle 2006, p.33.
This sketch is taken from the bank of the River Tees, looking downstream, several hundred yards north-west of Wycliffe Hall. Turner continued the sketch to the right on the verso (D11484) to include part of Wycliffe village and a cart passing on the lane. The sketch formed the basis of a studio watercolour Wycliffe, near Rokeby (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)1 engraved for Thomas Dunham Whitaker’s History of Richmondshire, part of the projected seven-volume General History of the County of York (see Introduction to the sketchbook) and published in 1823. Wycliffe Hall was reputedly the birthplace John Wycliffe (1324–1384), the famous reformer and translator of the Bible. In the watercolour, Turner introduced some geese and an effect of sunrise which he described as allegorical of overfed priests and the dawn of the Reformation.2
Wycliffe Hall stands on the south bank of the Tees less than two miles east (downstream) of Rokeby. The earliest parts probably date back to the thirteenth century, other substantial sections to the fifteenth. Enlarged and remodelled successively over the centuries, the house is today privately owned and is not open to the public. However, Turner’s view can be readily accessed using public footpaths. The present writer has dated Turner’s sketches in the Wycliffe area to Thursday 1 August 1816.
David Hill
February 2009
How to cite
David Hill, ‘Wycliffe, on the River Tees near Rokeby 1816 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2013, https://www