after Joseph Mallord William Turner

Dudley, Worcestershire, engraved by R. Wallis

published 1835

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

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On loan

Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain): Turner Watercolours: Sun is God

Artist: After Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium: Engraving on paper
Dimensions: Support: 170 × 242 mm
image: 163 × 240 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Transferred from the British Museum 1988
Reference: T06114

Display caption

Dudley, in the Midlands, had been associated with iron production since the middle ages. However, during the eighteenth century the industry expanded massively and a new canal system was introduced. Turner’s composition, recorded in this engraving, contrasts the industrial and commercial activity in the foreground with the town’s old buildings silhouetted on the hill.

The art critic John Ruskin said that the castle and church spire seen in this way represented ‘the passing away of the baron and the monk’ in the face of modern industry.

Gallery label, August 2004

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