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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Bristol and Malmesbury Tour 1791

From the entry

The Bristol and Malmesbury sketchbook, which Turner used while staying with friends of his father’s, the family of John Narraway, in Bristol in 1791, is filled with carefully drawn, sometimes highly finished, views in pencil and watercolour, intended as models for finished compositions. He spent so much time drawing along the cliffs of the Avon Gorge that he acquired the nickname ‘The Prince of the Rocks’. This section also includes those finished drawings which were not sold or given away, together with further studies. The sketchbook and the related works are discussed further in the introductions to the respective subsections.
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Bristol and Malmesbury sketchbook 1791
Tate D00072–D00107, D40733–D40736
Turner Bequest VI 1–24
D00108–D00114, D40029–D40032, D41454
Turner Bequest VII A–G
The Bristol and Malmesbury sketchbook, which Turner used while staying with friends of his father’s, the family of John Narraway, in Bristol in 1791, is filled with carefully drawn, sometimes highly finished, views in pencil and watercolour, intended as models for finished compositions. He spent so much time drawing along the cliffs of the Avon Gorge that he acquired the nickname ‘The Prince of the Rocks’.
This section also includes those finished drawings which were not sold or given away, together with further studies. The sketchbook and the related works are discussed further in the introductions to the respective subsections.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Bristol and Malmesbury Tour 1791’, April 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/bristol-and-malmesbury-tour-r1140117, accessed 19 March 2024.