Joseph Mallord William Turner

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

1797

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

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

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

architecture(41,314)
- features(8,906)
- - arcade(213)
  - stonework(459)
- periods and styles(5,202)
- - Gothic(1,186)
  - medieval(2,331)
- religious(6,859)
- - abbey(696)
- ruins(3,719)
- - religious(849)
places(41,542)
- UK cities, towns and villages(12,697)
- - York, St Mary’s Abbey(8)
- UK counties(19,569)
- - Yorkshire, North(769)
- UK countries and regions(24,402)
- - England(19,249)
  - England, Northern(2,980)

In the shop

Browse the shop