Joseph Mallord William Turner

Here Turner has drawn a prospect of Kirkstall Abbey, a ruined Cistercian monastery in West Yorkshire, from a south-easterly vantage point atop Kirkstall Hill. Turner and his close friend and contemporary Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) had previously pictured the Abbey from the same viewpoint in 1797 and 1800 respectively (see Tate D00921; Turner Bequest XXXIV 15 and The British Museum).1 The town of Kirkstall is rendered in the foreground at left and the River Aire can be seen meandering through the picturesque valley at centre. There is a separate and slight view of the valley above the main sketch.

These sketches are associated with Turner’s watercolour of Kirkstall Abbey produced for W.B. Cooke’s Rivers of England series (Tate D18146; Turner Bequest CCVIII M and Tate impressions T04810, T04811, T06371).2 See also Tate D18390; Turner Bequest CCX 48.