Joseph Mallord William Turner

Tabley Water Tower, and a Tower on a Bridge

1808

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In Tate Britain

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Tabley No.2 Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 98 × 162 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D06979
Turner Bequest CIV 86

Catalogue entry

Drawn with the sketchbook inverted. See also verso (D06980; Turner Bequest CIV 86a) and folio 88 verso (D06982; Turner Bequest CIV 87a) for variants of a tower or arch on a bridge. In the present case, the tower on the left appears to be the water tower that Sir John Leicester had built in the mere or Moat at Tabley. See Introduction to the sketchbook for Turner’s visit to Tabley in 1808 and his omission of the tower from his first drawings and sketch of Tabley House from the Moat, and subsequent inclusion of it, presumably on the instructions of Sir John Leicester.
The separate drawing on the right, as in the following drawings, shows a tower incorporated into a bridge. Perhaps Turner was amusing himself as an amateur architect.

David Blayney Brown
May 2010

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