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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > North of England Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dryburgh Abbey: Interior of the Ruins 1797

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dryburgh Abbey: Interior of the Ruins’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 66 Recto:
Dryburgh Abbey: Interior of the Ruins 1797
D00971
Turner Bequest XXXIV 62
Pencil on white wove paper, 210 x 270 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘62’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXIV 62’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Dryburgh is probably the earliest Premonstratensian house in Scotland; it was founded by Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland, in 1150 and work on the permanent buildings was begun later in the twelfth century.
The subject is drawn with the page turned horizontally. David Hill notes that this view is from the east end looking west into the nave; he points out that Turner includes portions of both the north transept, at right, and the south transept, at left, changing his position in order to do so. Another view of Dryburgh, showing the Abbey from a distance, is bound out of sequence as folio 24 recto (D00929; Turner Bequest XXXIV 23). When Turner was working on his series of illustrations for Scott’s Poetical Works he made a small but spectacular panoramic view of Dryburgh (Tate N05241)1 which was engraved in 1833 by William Miller (Tate impressions: T04950, T05141).
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.428 no.1078, reproduced.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Dryburgh Abbey: Interior of the Ruins 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-dryburgh-abbey-interior-of-the-ruins-r1150127, accessed 13 May 2024.