Joseph Mallord William Turner

York: The Ruined West Front of St Mary’s Abbey Church

1797

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Tweed and Lakes Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 274 × 370 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D01073
Turner Bequest XXXV 71

Catalogue entry

The subject was drawn with the page turned horizontally. Although a severely dilapidated ruin, St Mary’s Abbey was an important medieval site, and Turner accords this record of the principal mass of the structure much diligent attention. He incorporated a more distant view in the drawing on the preceding leaf, folio 85 recto (Tate D01072; Turner Bequest XXXV 70).

Verso:

Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed by A.J. Finberg in pencil ‘141.71’.

Andrew Wilton
August 2010

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