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 Worcester Cathedral from the River Severn; Castleton from the West ?1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Worcester Cathedral from the River Severn; Castleton from the West’ ?1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 83 Verso:
Worcester Cathedral from the River Severn; Castleton from the West ?1831
D22304
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 82a
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 191 mm
Partial watermark ‘nard | 20’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘from the Speedwell Mine’ towards top left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the main view is to the north up the River Severn, with the tower of Worcester Cathedral at the centre; the nearby spire of St Andrew’s Church and tower of All Saints Church to the north are recorded in a slight continuation on folio 84 recto opposite (D22305; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 83). The waterfront below the cathedral has since been cleared of various structures north of the surviving Watergate, as can be seen in comparison with a watercolour study by Joseph Farington (1747–1821) of about 1789 (Tate T08447); see also under folio 4 verso (D22157).
This study has been related to the watercolour Worcester of about 1834 (British Museum, London),1 engraved in 1835 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Tate impression: T06117); the composition is based on the present drawing and the less precise sketch on folio 81 verso (D22300; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 80a). For other views of Worcester, see under folio 2 verso (D22154).
At the top left is a small, unrelated Peak District study, looking west from the vicinity of ‘Speedwell Mine’, the disused lead mine connected with Speedwell Cavern,2 with Castleton in the valley below Peveril Castle and the entrance to Peak Cavern on the right. For other views in the area see under folio 1 verso (D22152).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

1
Wilton 1979, p.401 no.862, reproduced; see also Shanes 1979, p.156, and Shanes 1990, p.286 note 185.
2
See ‘Speedwell Cavern’, Castleton: Peak District National Park, accessed 16 December 2013, http://www.castleton.co.uk/caverns/speedwell_cavern.aspx.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Worcester Cathedral from the River Severn; Castleton from the West ?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-worcester-cathedral-from-the-river-severn-castleton-from-the-r1148952, accessed 20 September 2024.