Joseph Mallord William Turner

In undated manuscript notes, A.J. Finberg (died 1939) changed his incorrect 1909 Turner Bequest Inventory identification of this subject from Shrewsbury to ‘Chester’, as did the watercolour and Turner scholar C.F. Bell (died 1966).1 As Ian Warrell has noted, the subject is Grosvenor Bridge over the River Dee in the middle distance, looking north-east2 to the city beyond, seen from the vicinity of what is now Curzon Park North, a residential street backing onto the river opposite the racecourse.

On the skyline above the bridge is Chester Castle, apparently with the tower of St Michael’s Church to the left. The drawing appears slightly confused at this point, with strokes running diagonally across the top left corner with associated ‘x’ symbols and a note possibly indicating that the buildings are all shown ‘to[o] Low’ (or perhaps ‘high’). There is a similar prospect at the top of folio 15 recto opposite (D22177).

Chester, the county town of Cheshire, stands on the River Dee not far from the Welsh border, about thirty miles north of Shrewsbury (see under folio 12 verso; D22172) and south of Liverpool and Manchester (see under folio 12 recto; D22171). Turner had first visited the city in 1794, when he ventured into North Wales for the first time. He drew the castle and cathedral (Tate D40041; verso of Turner Bequest XXI L), and two views of picturesque old houses and shops in the centre (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford). The castle subject was the basis of an untraced watercolour3 engraved in 1796 as Chester (Tate impression: T05892). In 1801 he returned and made studies in and around the city in the Chester sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest LXXXII): Tate D05129 (Turner Bequest LXXXII 52) was the source of an untraced watercolour4 engraved in 1810 as Distant View of Chester (Tate impression: T05730); and Tate D05128 (Turner Bequest LXXXII 51) was used for a watercolour of a nearer view of the castle (Ashmolean Museum)5 engraved in the same year as Part of Chester Castle (Tate impression: T05948).