Joseph Mallord William Turner Trees in the Avenue at Farnley ?1814
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 78 Recto:
Trees in the Avenue at Farnley ?1814
D09777
Turner Bequest CXXXIII 78
Turner Bequest CXXXIII 78
Pencil on white wove paper, 110 x 178 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘78’ top left, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXXIII 78’ top left, upside down
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘78’ top left, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXXIII 78’ top left, upside down
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.379, CXXXIII 78, as ‘Trees in the avenue at Farnley’.
1979
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.369 under no.600.
1980
David Hill, Stanley Warburton, Mary Tussey and others, Turner in Yorkshire, exhibition catalogue, York City Art Gallery 1980, p.42 under no.59, as probably 1814.
1984
The Watercolour Collection Formed by Mrs. Cecil Keith: Including a Group of Drawings from the Collection of her Father, J. Leslie Wright, Exhibited by Kind Permission of the City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, exhibition catalogue, Thos Agnew & Sons, London 1984, p.35, as probably 1814.
2004
Karen Lynch and David Hill, ‘Turner runs Riot: A Newly Discovered Reminiscence of Turner’, Turner Society News, no.96, March 2004, p.12 note 20, as 1816 or earlier.
As has been recognised,1 this sketch relates to the watercolour The Avenue, Farnley (Bolton Museums),2 which has been variously dated to about 18153 or 1818.4 It is a rougher version of the trees in the drawing on folio 77 verso opposite (D09776), where Farnley Hall is included in the distance. The diagonal, arching branch at the top right of the watercolour seems to derive from the present drawing rather than the more detailed sketch opposite. See under D09776 for further discussion.
The top right corner of the leaf has been lost and made good. Ruskin’s customary ‘294’ in blue ink, as seen on other pages in this sketchbook, is therefore not in evidence here.
Matthew Imms
July 2014
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘Trees in the Avenue at Farnley ?1814 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www