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 The Tamar Valley between Launceston and Lifton 1814

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Tamar Valley between Launceston and Lifton’ 1814
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 117 Recto:
The Tamar Valley between Launceston and Lifton 1814
D09610
Turner Bequest CXXXII 117
Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 152 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Course of Tamar from Road to L [?nr] Lifton’ at bottom edge
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘117’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXXXII – 117’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The first ‘L’ of Turner’s inscription is presumably Launceston, where he used this sketchbook for a number of studies (see under folio 106 recto; D09596). Lifton is about four miles to the east, near the confluence of the River Wolf with the Lyd, which itself flows into the Tamar shortly afterwards. The Okehampton road runs north of the Tamar, and Turner’s view is southwards, possibly from where it rises between Polson (see folio 115 recto; D09607) and Liftondown. Here the road almost converges with the modern A30, and the hill south of their junction, now heavily wooded by the Gordonhill Plantation, is perhaps the one shown on the right of Turner’s sketch.

Matthew Imms
June 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Tamar Valley between Launceston and Lifton 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-the-tamar-valley-between-launceston-and-lifton-r1147159, accessed 24 April 2024.