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 Prebends' Bridge and the Watergate, Durham 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Prebends' Bridge and the Watergate, Durham’ 1817
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Recto:
Prebends’ Bridge and the Watergate, Durham 1817
D12330
Turner Bequest CLVII 10
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 185 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘10’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLVII – 10’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s viewpoint is the wooded slopes across the River Wear from Durham Cathedral, looking south-east. In the trees to the left of the distant bridge is the arch of the Watergate on South Bailey; a small figure is indicated among the trees on the right. The foliage and skyline of buildings on the left continue a little way onto folio 9 verso opposite (D12329). The bridge and arch also appear on folio 7 recto (D12326), and there is a similar view in the 1801 Helmsley sketchbook (Tate D02485, D02486; Turner Bequest LIII 16a–17).
This is one of a continuous run of drawings of Durham, beginning on folio 6 recto (D12325) and concluding on folio 14 recto (D12334), with one further sketch on folio 76 verso (D12414). For Turner’s other visits to the city, see the entry for D12325.

Matthew Imms
February 2010

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Prebends’ Bridge and the Watergate, 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-prebends-bridge-and-the-watergate-durham-r1139329, accessed 26 April 2024.