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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country and Yorkshire 1814-17 > Devon Rivers, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Great Torrington from the Torridge Valley 1814

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Great Torrington from the Torridge Valley’ 1814
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 83 Recto:
Great Torrington from the Torridge Valley 1814
D09569
Turner Bequest CXXXII 83
Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 152 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘83’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXXXII – 83’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The view is west down the valley of the River Torridge, from the bend south-east of Great Torrington, which is seen on the skyline. The tower, as seen in other drawings here, appears to be the gazebo or belvedere which still stands beside the bowling green on the site of the medieval castle off Castle Street.1
For other views of the town on adjacent pages, see under folio 80 recto (D09566).

Matthew Imms
June 2014

1
See Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, Devon, The Buildings of England, revised ed., New Haven and London 2002, p.463.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Great Torrington from the Torridge Valley 1814 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-great-torrington-from-the-torridge-valley-r1147116, accessed 24 April 2024.