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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Scotland 1801-10 > Dunbar Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Durham: Distant View of the Cathedral, Seen beyond Woods from the South-East 1801

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Durham: Distant View of the Cathedral, Seen beyond Woods from the South-East’ 1801
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Recto:
Durham: Distant View of the Cathedral, Seen beyond Woods from the South-East 1801
D02619
Turner Bequest LIV 4
Pencil on white wove paper, 115 x 164 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘4’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LIV 4’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner had made several drawings at Durham during his North of England tour of 1797, and developed watercolours from some of them; see the Tweed and Lakes sketchbook (Tate D01014–D01018, D01091; Turner Bequest XXXV 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 89). However, he was unable to resist the temptation to draw its principal buildings as he passed through on this tour; there are also several in the Helmsley sketchbook, including Tate D02483–D02484, D02487–D02490 (Turner Bequest LIII 15a–16, 17a–18, 18a–19).
Here, at some distance away, Turner avails himself of the framing trees to create a composition that did not offer itself while he was working in the city. Another view of the Cathedral from a distance is on the verso (D02620).
Technical notes:
This leaf was not washed by Turner and remains a speckled off-white, like folio 1 (D02614); see also folios 106 and 107 (D02791–D02794).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Durham: Distant View of the Cathedral, Seen beyond Woods from the South-East 1801 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-durham-distant-view-of-the-cathedral-seen-beyond-woods-from-r1178805, accessed 19 April 2024.