Joseph Mallord William Turner

Aira Force

1797

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Not on display

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Tweed and Lakes Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 370 × 274 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D01080
Turner Bequest XXXV 78

Catalogue entry

Bound now with the drawing of Lodore Falls on folio 28 recto (D01087; Turner Bequest XXXV 85), and thought to be Lodore by both Finberg and the mountaineer and art historian Peter Bicknell,1 the subject has been identified by Turner scholar David Hill as showing Aira Force, at the south-western end of Ullswater, half a mile from the north shore of the lake; Hill suggests it would be better placed immediately after the Ullswater view on folio 55 recto (D01043; Turner Bequest XXXV 41).2

Oral communication.

See Hill 1996, pp.193, 194.

Technical notes:

The upper right and two lower corners have been torn away and repaired.

Verso:

Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘720’; inscribed in another hand in pencil ‘78’.

Andrew Wilton
August 2010

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