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 > Durham, North Shore, Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Durham from Old Durham 1817

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Durham from Old Durham’ 1817
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 13 Recto:
Durham from Old Durham 1817
D12333
Turner Bequest CLVII 13
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 185 mm
Part watermark ‘J Wh | 18’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘13’ bottom right (now very faint)
Stamped in black ‘CLVII – 13’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As in the sketch on folio 12 recto (D12332), Durham Cathedral is seen west across the Wear Valley from the direction of Old Durham, with the castle and probably the tower of St Nicholas’s Church to its right, and the new prison on the near side the cathedral (see the entry for D12332 for further details). The view is extended to the right by an unusually wide continuation on folio 14 recto (D12334), showing the rising ground towards Gilesgate.
This is one of a continuous run of drawings of Durham, beginning on folio 6 recto (D12325) and concluding on folio 14 recto, with one further sketch on folio 76 verso (D12414). For Turner’s other visits to the city, see the entry for D12325.
Technical notes:
A small tear below the centre of the right-hand edge has been repaired from the verso.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
February 2010

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Durham from Old Durham 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-durham-from-old-durham-r1139334, accessed 19 April 2024.