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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > County Durham and Northumberland 1817 > Raby Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Beech Trees near Raby Castle 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Beech Trees near Raby Castle’ 1817
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 20 Recto:
Beech Trees near Raby Castle 1817
D12302
Turner Bequest CLVI 24a
Pencil on white wove paper, 232 x 328 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘To Raby SW’ towards bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘550 B’ bottom left and ‘175.’ in circle bottom right
Inscribed in blue pencil ‘179’ bottom right
Inscribed in pencil ‘24, a’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The trees were presumably recorded on or near the south-west side of the Raby estate during Turner’s perambulations. Wilkinson identifies them as beeches; his page reference was apparently confused with that for folio 29 recto (D12286; CLVI 15a) which bears a similar inscription.
As now bound and foliated, sketches of the castle and its surroundings fill most of the second half of the sketchbook, from folio 17 recto (D12298; CLVI 22a) to folio 32 recto (D12309; CLVI 28).
Technical notes:
There are glue stains at the corners and signs of rubbing and mottled staining across much of the surface, from when the page was stuck down while the verso (D12301; CLVI 24) was exhibited. There are rough pencil marks towards the head and tail of the gutter, presumably relics of the mounting process.

Matthew Imms
February 2010

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Beech Trees near Raby Castle 1817 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2010, 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-beech-trees-near-raby-castle-r1139488, accessed 18 April 2024.