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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > East Sussex c.1806-20 > Hastings Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Battle Abbey; the Gatehouse and Court House from Abbey Green; and Architectural Details c.1816-18

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Battle Abbey; the Gatehouse and Court House from Abbey Green; and Architectural Details’ c.1816-18
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 28 Recto:
Battle Abbey; the Gatehouse and Court House from Abbey Green; and Architectural Details circa 1816–18
D10381
Turner Bequest CXXXIX 28
Pencil on white wove paper, 129 x 205 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ?’Gatehouse | Battle Abbey’ upper right and ‘arch’ lower centre by a detail of the entrance
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘28’ bottom left, inverted and ‘315’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘CXXXIX 28’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the sketchbook inverted, this is a detailed study of the gatehouse and adjoining court house, with the Pilgrim’s Rest and other houses at the top of the High Street on the right. Turner has also drawn details of windows, the entrance arch and other features. There is a slight outline of the central and right-hand section of the gatehouse on the facing folio 27 verso (D10380). See also folio 29 verso (D10384) for the same buildings seen from further to the left, and folio 30 verso (D10386) for other parts of the abbey. There are other, more distant views of the abbey and surroundings in the Views in Sussex sketchbook (Tate D10321, D10322, D10331; Turner Bequest CXXXVIII 2, 3, 11).

David Blayney Brown
May 2011

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Battle Abbey; the Gatehouse and Court House from Abbey Green; and Architectural Details c.1816–18 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-battle-abbey-the-gatehouse-and-court-house-from-abbey-green-r1131609, accessed 25 April 2024.