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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales 1798 > Hereford Court Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Panoramic View of the Junction of the Rivers Severn and Wye 1798

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Panoramic View of the Junction of the Rivers Severn and Wye’ 1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 15 Recto:
Panoramic View of the Junction of the Rivers Severn and Wye 1798
D01335
Turner Bequest XXXVIII 81
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, the foreground washed grey-brown, 229 x 332 mm
Watermark ‘1794 | J Whatman’
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom left
Stamped in black ‘XXXVIII 81’ bottom left, descending vertically
With the page turned horizontally, Turner made this study the starting point for a view of the Junction of Severn and Wye in his Liber Studiorum series; the watercolour drawing is Tate D08132 (Turner Bequest CXVII E). Landscape with a River and Bay in the Distance, a late painting (Musée du Louvre, Paris),1 was probably based on the Liber plate, and so derives ultimately from the same study. See also the following page, folio 16 recto (D01262; Turner Bequest XXXVIII 12).
It is possible that Turner observed the rainstorm in the distance and painted it on the spot, though he very probably deferred adding colour to his drawing until he reached his lodgings.
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.299–300 no.509, pl.511 (colour).
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Panoramic View of the Junction of the Rivers Severn and Wye 1798 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-panoramic-view-of-the-junction-of-the-rivers-severn-and-wye-r1173153, accessed 26 April 2024.