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 > North Wales Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Chirk Aqueduct in Course of Construction 1798

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Chirk Aqueduct in Course of Construction’ 1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 37 Recto:
The Chirk Aqueduct in Course of Construction 1798
D01391
Turner Bequest XXXIX 36
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 170 x 266 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘R’ right of centre, twice, in the drawing
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘36’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXIX 36’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, the aqueduct is that at Chirk, whose arches are round-headed, as are those shown here. Thomas Telford’s other aqueduct in the region, the Pontcysyllte, has segmental-headed arches; Turner made a drawing of it on folio 40 recto (D01393; Turner Bequest XXXIX 38). The Chirk aqueduct was built in 1796–1801 by Telford and William Jessop to carry the Shropshire Union Canal, a branch of the Ellesmere Canal, and Turner shows it in course of construction. It consists of ten arches each spanning 12 metres (40 feet).
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘The Chirk Aqueduct in Course of Construction 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-chirk-aqueduct-in-course-of-construction-r1173620, accessed 20 September 2024.