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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Severn Valley, Chester and Peak District ... > Worcester and Shrewsbury Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bridgnorth from the South ?1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bridgnorth from the South’ ?1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 79 Recto:
Bridgnorth from the South ?1831
D22295
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 78
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 191 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Doric’ top centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘78’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXIX – 78’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject has been identified by Ian Warrell as Bridgnorth with St Mary Magdalene’s Church.1 The view, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, is along the valley of the River Severn, looking north, with the leaning ruins of the castle adjacent to the classical church (marked as ‘Doric’), and the tower of St Leonard’s Church in outline above the bridge.
There is a similar view on folio 1 recto (D22151), under which other sketches are mentioned, and on folios 77verso–78 recto (D22292, D22293; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 76a, 77) and 79 verso–80 recto (D22296, D22297; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 78a, 79).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

1
Ian Warrell, notes from 1993 and later in Tate catalogue files.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Bridgnorth from the South ?1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-bridgnorth-from-the-south-r1148943, accessed 23 September 2024.