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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Farnley Hall and Yorkshire c.1808-24 > Farnley and Related Subjects > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Otley and Wharfedale from Caley Park c.1808-16

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Otley and Wharfedale from Caley Park’ c.1808-16
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Otley and Wharfedale from Caley Park c.1808–16
D12108
Turner Bequest CLIV J
Pencil on a thin, greyish wove paper, 184 x 226 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Cow Calf’, ‘Denton’, ‘Fern’, ‘Wood’
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘J’ bottom right
Stamped in brown ‘CLIV J’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is a view from near Caley Crags at the east end of Otley Chevin, looking west up Wharfedale to the Cow and Calf Rocks above Ilkley in the centre distance, with ‘Denton’ Hall indicated in the right distance. The town of Otley occupies the valley floor below to the right, but only the church tower is clearly indicated in the sketch. Turner drew another view of similar material (Tate D12104; Turner Bequest CLIV F), from a slightly lower viewpoint and further back to bring the crags into the composition more prominently. It is not clear what relationship the two sketches might have to one another. Farnley Hall, the Yorkshire home of Turner’s patron Walter Fawkes, faces Caley Crags from across the River Wharfe out of the present field of view to the right. Turner appears to have made numerous excursions from there to Caley Park.
The paper has an unevenly cut lower edge, but the remaining edges are even, indicating that the folio might have been detached from a sketchbook. The paper is an unusual one, however, with its greyish tinge. The style of the drawing seems quite early, and it may date to one of Turner’s early visits to Farnley from 1808 onwards, but there is nothing to aid greater precision.
Verso:
Blank

David Hill
July 2009

How to cite

David Hill, ‘Otley and Wharfedale from Caley Park c.1808–16 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-otley-and-wharfedale-from-caley-park-r1146610, accessed 04 November 2025.