Joseph Mallord William Turner

Distant View of Oxford from the Abingdon Road (Oxford from South Hinksey)

1789

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On loan

Banbury Museum (Banbury, UK): Turner: Ambitions in Architecture and the Art of Perspective

Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Oxford and Other Subjects
Medium
Ink wash, pen and ink, graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions
Support: 309 x 493 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D00046
Turner Bequest III A

Catalogue entry

This panorama is based on the pencil drawing that Turner made in his Oxford sketchbook (Tate D00017; Turner Bequest II 7). Harrison suggests that the use of black ink outlines recalls the work of Paul Sandby, which Turner may well have had in mind at this time, along with that of other leading topographers. Hill describes it as a ‘first tentative attempt’ at panoramic landscape.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed in blue ink: ‘II’; the old mount (now removed) bore an inscription by Ruskin in pencil, top left-hand corner: ‘The first view of Oxford | Oxford 177 –1’.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

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