J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Town in a Valley with a Church Spire Above, Probably in Kent c.1830

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Verso:
A Town in a Valley with a Church Spire Above, Probably in Kent c.1830
D35796
Turner Bequest CCCLXIII 21
Pencil on white wove paper, 76 x 98 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this relatively detailed view of a town from a high vantage point is as yet unidentified, though likely to be a Kent subject like many others in this sketchbook; see the introduction. The drawing continues across folio 23 recto opposite (D35798; Turner Bequest CCCLXIII 22). The church spire here and the tower on the opposite page may be those also shown on folio 13 recto (D35781). See also folios 37 verso–38 recto and 38 verso–39 recto (D35821, D35823–D35825; Turner Bequest CCCLXIII 36–37, 37a–38).
The blank, unaccessioned recto is inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘21’ bottom right and stamped in black ‘CCCLXIII – 21’ bottom right; see the note on page sequence in the Introduction’s technical notes.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Town in a Valley with a Church Spire Above, Probably in Kent c.1830 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-town-in-a-valley-with-a-church-spire-above-probably-in-r1183760, accessed 29 March 2024.