Joseph Mallord William Turner

Trees and Houses ?beside the River Severn; Peveril Castle from the West

?1831

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Worcester and Shrewsbury Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 114 × 191 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D22226
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 41

Catalogue entry

The most prominent view, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation apparently shows a river flowing among trees with scattered houses beyond. The scene is perhaps on the River Severn near Worcester (see under folio 2 verso; D22154) but might equally be elsewhere on Turner’s travels through the Midlands with this sketchbook; the trees on the right are continued a little way onto folio 40 verso opposite (D22225).

A second sketch, not mentioned in Finberg’s 1909 Turner Bequest Inventory, is the other way up. Labelled ‘P’, it appears to show Peveril Castle above Castleton, looking west; there seems to be an illegible word to the right of the initial. Another prospect from this direction is on the opposite page. For others of the castle, Castleton and Peak Cavern, see under folio 1 verso (D22152).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

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