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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Coventry from the North-West 1830

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 27 Recto:
Coventry from the North-West 1830
D22371
Turner Bequest CCXL 27
Pencil on white wove paper, 68 x 110 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘27’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCXL – 27’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As others have recognised,1 this drawing, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation and continuing on folio 26 verso opposite (D22370), is a source for Turner’s watercolour Coventry of about 1832 (British Museum, London),2 engraved in 1833 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Tate impression: T06105), as is the similar view on folios 25 verso–26 recto (D22368, D22369).
Turner’s viewpoint down Hill Street is in the vicinity of the modern Ringway, which cuts across the street (the old toll road towards Birmingham), and later developments largely obstruct the prospect towards the churches in the city centre.3 Here Holy Trinity is seen on the far right; St Michael’s appears just to its right on the opposite page, correct in juxtaposition and relative height, as can still be seen from Hill Street. In the finished design they have been transposed, apparently inadvertently, with details probably introduced from the study on folio 15 verso (D22348).
Notable on the left is a small factory with a chimney in the form of a classical column, equally if not more prominent than Holy Trinity on the horizon. In the watercolour it would be transferred to the skyline on the far left, less intrusive but still evidence of industrial development as a counterpoint to the fields in the foreground and the medieval spires beyond.
For other Coventry views, see under folio 9 verso (D22336).

Matthew Imms
August 2013

1
See Wilton 1975, p.123; Shanes 1979, p.156; Wilton 1979, p.399; and Sloan 1998, p.100.
2
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.399 no.849, reproduced.
3
See successive historical street maps, [Rob Orland], Historic Coventry, accessed 2 July 2013, http://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/covmaps/allmaps.php.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Coventry from the North-West 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-coventry-from-the-north-west-r1148521, accessed 29 March 2024.