Joseph Mallord William Turner

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, Worcester Cathedral is seen to the north-east above the River Severn. Various structures no longer survive; the buildings Turner recorded can be compared with those in a watercolour study by Joseph Farington (1747–1821) of about 1789 (Tate T08447), drawn from slightly to the south; see also under folio 4 verso (D22157). Although effectively from a single viewpoint, Turner’s study of the complex interrelationships of the buildings has become slightly disjointed, in that the riverfront walls at the bottom left and right should be continuous on a single level. At the top right are details of the tracery and a pinnacle of the cathedral’s tower. Turner pushed the page in from the outer edge to continue the view along the river to the left on folio 84 recto (D22305; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 83).

The details here informed the watercolour Worcester of about 1834 (British Museum, London),1 engraved in 1835 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Tate impression: T06117), although its overall composition is based on the sketches on folios 81 verso and 83 verso (D22300, D22304; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 80a, 82a). Turner’s largely illegible inscription at the foot of the present page may refer to fishing on the Severn; in the watercolour girls are shown in the foreground trapping eels2 from a punt.

For other views of Worcester, see under folio 2 verso (D22154).