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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Views near Birmingham 1830

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 3 Verso:
Views near Birmingham 1830
D22328
Turner Bequest CCXL 3a
Pencil on white wove paper, 110 x 68 mm
Partial watermark ‘Ga | 18’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Dark]’, ‘Pond’ and ‘Boy with Pigs’ towards top below drawing, ‘White [?cottage]’ and ‘[?Pender] Road’ centre right below drawing, ‘[?Mud]’ and ‘[?white] below centre above drawings, and ‘white’ towards bottom left above drawing
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
There are probably five separate views here, made with the page turned vertically. The top two are variant prospects of Birmingham, with distant spires on the horizon between buildings and trees. Across the middle appears to be a single sketch with what seems to be a church tower on the left and a building or complex of buildings, possibly industrial, on the right. Below are two more views of urban buildings: the upper of the two may show terraced houses or warehouses with industrial buildings including a conical chimney to their right; the lower may show terraced housing or warehouses alone.
All the drawings were probably made in quick succession in the same locality. The surroundings were evidently rural enough for Turner to make notes of a pond and a boy tending pigs.
For other Birmingham views, see under the recto (D22327).

Matthew Imms
August 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Views near Birmingham 1830 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2013, 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-views-near-birmingham-r1148478, accessed 23 April 2024.