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

This and a related colour study in this grouping (Tate D17186; Turner Bequest CXCVI V) had been supposed to relate to the watercolour Crook of Lune (Courtauld Institute of Art), but were identified by David Hill1 as studies relating to the finished watercolour Kirkby Lonsdale Churchyard2. The watercolour was engraved by Charles Heath (1785–1848) in 1821 and published as part of Whitaker’s History of Richmondshire (Tate impressions: T04478, T04479, T06052). Hill identifies a pencil sketch made during Turner’s 1816 tour of Yorkshire as the source of both the colour studies and the realised watercolour; see the entry for Tate D11528 (Turner Bequest CXLVIII 5a), which also mentions another significant view (Tate D11123; Turner Bequest CXLV 58a).

The present colour study is a loose rendering of the landscape seen in the finished Kirkby Lonsdale Churchyard watercolour. While the foreground details seen in the watercolour are not included, the distant Lune Valley hills laid out in bluish hues are recognisable.

See also the introduction to the Richmondshire ‘colour beginnings’ grouping to which this study has been assigned.

Technical notes:

There is a vertical fold at the centre of the sheet. There is scratching out or abrasion to the lower left of the sheet.

Verso:

Blank, save for inscriptions: stamped in black ‘CXCVI W’ bottom left stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram bottom left.