Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Avon Gorge from St Vincent’s Rocks, with Cook’s Folly in the Distance

1798

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In Tate Britain

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Cyfarthfa Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 285 × 457 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D01664
Turner Bequest XLI 31

Catalogue entry

Turner had made drawings in the Avon Gorge on his first visit to Bristol in 1791; a view looking down the river towards Cook’s Folly is in the Bristol and Malmesbury sketchbook (Tate D00077; Turner Bequest VI 5a). Both the viewpoint and the composition of the present drawing are almost identical to a watercolour by Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) now dated to about 1800 (Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; D.1997.4); as Greg Smith points out, the spot was famous for its drama and effects of colour and light, especially when the setting sun enhanced the natural redness of the rocks,1 and many other artists depicted it. Turner does not seem to have developed this sketch into a finished work.
1
See Greg Smith, Peter Bower, Anne Lyles and others, Thomas Girtin: The Art of Watercolour, exhibition catalogue, Tate Britain, London 2002, p.223 no.172, reproduced.
Technical notes:
The sheet is dust-stained and dirty.
Verso:
Blank; badly stained; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

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