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 > Devonshire Rivers, No.3, and Wharfedale ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Ground Plan of Fountains Abbey; Gothic Arches 1816

Image 1 of 1
Sorry, no image is available of this artwork
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Recto:
A Ground Plan of Fountains Abbey; Gothic Arches 1816
D09838
Turner Bequest CXXXIV 43
Pencil on white wove paper with gilt edges, 179 x 254 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘G’, ‘G’, and ‘C’ centre, within plan
Stamped in black ‘CXXXIV – 43’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg was correct in speculating that this plan shows Fountains Abbey.1 There are various slight inaccuracies of scale and alignment, suggesting it was either hastily or inaccurately copied from an existing source, or perhaps drawn during or after Turner’s visit to the actual ruins (see folios 43 recto and 44 recto; D09865, D09864; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 64, 63). A sketchier version appears on folio 40 recto (D09837; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 42).
At the top right there is a small Lorraine-style cross at the top right which is probably a schematic rendering of the church within the main plan, and parts of two adjacent Gothic arches, either observed at the abbey or a doodle prompted by drawing the plan.
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.382.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
July 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Ground Plan of Fountains Abbey; Gothic Arches 1816 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.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-ground-plan-of-fountains-abbey-gothic-arches-r1147399, accessed 25 April 2024.