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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Brighton and Copies from Wilson 1796-7 > Wilson Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Interior of a Church with the Congregation during Service 1796-7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Interior of a Church with the Congregation during Service’ 1796-7
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 15 Verso:
Interior of a Church with the Congregation during Service 1796–7
D01147
Turner Bequest XXXVII 30
Pencil, pen and brown ink and grey-brown wash on blue laid wrapping paper prepared with a red-brown wash, 113 x 93 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXXVII – 30’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The composition continues across folio 16 recto opposite (D01148; Turner Bequest XXXVII 31). The church may be the same as that depicted on folios 13 verso–14 recto (D01143–D01144; Turner Bequest XXXVII 26–27), which has been tentatively identified as St Leonard’s,Heston, Middlesex. However, the view through the doorway to the right (on the other page) appears to show the sea, with shipping, and it is possible that this is in fact Margate; the previous opening in this book, folios 14 verso–15 recto (D01145–D01146; Turner Bequest XXXVII 28–29), is probably a view of Margate. However, the parish church of St John the Baptist is not as close to the sea as suggested here, and there is no indication of the early twelfth-century round arches of the east end of the nave. The identification with Heston is the more likely.

Andrew Wilton
September 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Interior of a Church with the Congregation during Service 1796–7 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-interior-of-a-church-with-the-congregation-during-service-r1149839, accessed 26 April 2024.