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 A River Valley with Houses and a Church Tower Beyond, Probably in South Devon 1814

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A River Valley with Houses and a Church Tower Beyond, Probably in South Devon’ 1814
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 145 Recto:
A River Valley with Houses and a Church Tower Beyond, Probably in South Devon 1814
D09664
Turner Bequest CXXXII 145
Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 152 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘145’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXXXII – 145’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This scene, comprising a vigorously sketched foreground apparently showing the course of a river, with houses and a square church tower shown in more detail beyond against a hilly skyline, is presently unidentified, but probably in south Devon from its context in the sketchbook. The tower and the façade of the house to its left appear to be the same as those in the view on the verso (D09665).
Technical notes:
The leaf is rubbed and stained halfway down the right-hand edge, and a small loss has been made good. This appears to have been caused by proximity to the brass clasp formerly set into the back cover.

Matthew Imms
June 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A River Valley with Houses and a Church Tower Beyond, Probably in South Devon 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-a-river-valley-with-houses-and-a-church-tower-beyond-r1147213, accessed 27 April 2024.