Joseph Mallord William Turner

Whalley Abbey: Part of the Ruins, with the River Calder, looking East

1799

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In Tate Britain

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Lancashire and North Wales Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 225 × 329 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D01961
Turner Bequest XLV 31 a

Catalogue entry

Turner made many drawings of the ruins of the fourteenth-century Cistercian abbey at Whalley in this sketchbook and the contemporary Dolbadarn book (Tate D02003, D02005–D02006, D02009; Turner Bequest XLVI 8, 9a–10, 11a). Here, he looks eastward along the north bank of the River Calder towards Whalley Bridge; the southern end of the two-storey dormitory range is on the left.
Turner treated the bridge in more detail in his drawing on folio 35 verso (D01969). Further studies of the ruins in are on folio 34 verso (D01967) and folios 44 recto, 45 recto and 50 recto (D01983, D01984, D01989; Turner Bequest XLV 43, 44, 49).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

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