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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Midlands 1830 > Kenilworth Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Cavendish House, Leicester Abbey, with Leicester Beyond 1830

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Cavendish House, Leicester Abbey, with Leicester Beyond’ 1830
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 82 Recto:
?Cavendish House, Leicester Abbey, with Leicester Beyond 1830
D22130
Turner Bequest CCXXXVIII 80
Pencil on white wove paper, 120 x 203 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Cows early from the [...]’ centre right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘80’ bottom left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXVIII – 80’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this view may show the ruins of Cavendish House within the site of the ruined Leicester Abbey, with Leicester itself to the south. If so, the tower towards the right would be that of St Margaret’s Church. A viewpoint is difficult to establish owing to later developments and trees along the valley of the River Soar. There are firmly identified views on folios 18 recto and 20 verso (D22006, D22011), and a detailed study of the Leicester skyline including the tower of St Margaret’s for comparison in the contemporary Birmingham and Coventry sketchbook (Tate D22367; Turner Bequest CCXL 25).

Matthew Imms
August 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?Cavendish House, Leicester Abbey, with Leicester Beyond 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-cavendish-house-leicester-abbey-with-leicester-beyond-r1148771, accessed 19 April 2024.