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 > Cyfarthfa Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Avon Gorge from St Vincent's Rocks, with Cook's Folly in the Distance 1798

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Avon Gorge from St Vincent's Rocks, with Cook's Folly in the Distance’ 1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
The Avon Gorge from St Vincent’s Rocks, with Cook’s Folly in the Distance 1798
D01664
Turner Bequest XLI 31
Pencil on white wove paper, 285 x 457 mm
Watermark ‘1794 | J Whatman’
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘XLI – 31’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner had made drawings in the Avon Gorge on his first visit to Bristol in 1791; a view looking down the river towards Cook’s Folly is in the Bristol and Malmesbury sketchbook (Tate D00077; Turner Bequest VI 5a). Both the viewpoint and the composition of the present drawing are almost identical to a watercolour by Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) now dated to about 1800 (Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; D.1997.4); as Greg Smith points out, the spot was famous for its drama and effects of colour and light, especially when the setting sun enhanced the natural redness of the rocks,1 and many other artists depicted it. Turner does not seem to have developed this sketch into a finished work.
1
See Greg Smith, Peter Bower, Anne Lyles and others, Thomas Girtin: The Art of Watercolour, exhibition catalogue, Tate Britain, London 2002, p.223 no.172, reproduced.
Technical notes:
The sheet is dust-stained and dirty.
Verso:
Blank; badly stained; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘The Avon Gorge from St Vincent’s Rocks, with Cook’s Folly in the Distance 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-the-avon-gorge-from-st-vincents-rocks-with-cooks-folly-in-r1173280, accessed 20 April 2024.