Joseph Mallord William Turner

A finished watercolour of this subject is Tate D00679 (Turner Bequest XXVII R);1 another is in a private collection.2 These may have been made in response to the commissions recorded in Turner’s inscription on the verso. The subject was to prove a fertile one for Turner; an aquatint after the private collection version was published in 1823, and a view of Llanthony derived from this pencil drawing was to appear among the later plates of the Picturesque Views in England and Wales.3 Other views of Llanthony Abbey made on this tour are Tate D00136 (Turner Bequest XII G) and its verso (D40036); see also Tate D00368 (Turner Bequest XXII O).

Verso:

Blank; inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘<’ [crossed through] |‘Mr Clithero 1 New Ormond Street | Mr Clutterbuck 2 Gn ½’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed in a modern hand ‘4’.