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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Bristol and Malmesbury 1791 > Bristol and Malmesbury Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Malmesbury Abbey from the North-West 1791

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Malmesbury Abbey from the North-West’ 1791
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Recto:
Malmesbury Abbey from the North-West 1791
D00105
Turner Bequest VI 22
Pencil, watercolour and pen and brown ink on white wove paper, 185 x 263 mm
Stamped in black ‘VI 22’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This and folios 23 recto and 24 recto (D00106, D00107) were included by Ruskin in his ‘first hundred’ selected for exhibition in 1857. In his 1881 catalogue he described them as ‘Three early sketches at Clifton, when he [Turner] was twelve or thirteen years old.’1
1
‘Catalogue of the Drawings and Sketches by J.M.W. Turner, R.A. at Present Exhibited in the National Gallery’ in Cook and Wedderburn 1903, p.364 no.523.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by Turner in pen and brown ink ‘North West . View of. | Malmsbury Abbey. 1791’ centre right, descending vertically; inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘175’ lower left; stamped in black ink ‘VI – 22’ above Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom left.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Malmesbury Abbey from the North-West 1791 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-malmesbury-abbey-from-the-north-west-r1140156, accessed 27 October 2025.