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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > North of England Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Pontefract: All Saints' Church Tower and the Ruined South Transept 1797

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Pontefract: All Saints' Church Tower and the Ruined South Transept’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 8 Recto:
Pontefract: All Saints’ Church Tower and the Ruined South Transept 1797
D00913
Turner Bequest XXXIV 8
Pencil on white wove paper, 210 x 270 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘8’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXIV 8’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Although a grand building with some unusual features, including a double staircase up to the crossing tower, the medieval parish church of Pontefract lay in ruins from the time of the Civil War until 1838 when it was rebuilt. When Turner visited the town another church, St Giles’s, had been the parish church since 1789; but he concentrated on the more evocative remains of All Saints’, three drawings of it; see also folios 7 recto and 9 recto (D00912, D00914).
The drawing is continued on folio 7 verso opposite (D40561).
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Pontefract: All Saints’ Church Tower and the Ruined South Transept 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, 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-pontefract-all-saints-church-tower-and-the-ruined-south-r1150069, accessed 23 April 2024.