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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1811 > Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Chain Gate, Wells 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Chain Gate, Wells’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 187 Verso:
The Chain Gate, Wells 1811
D08708
Turner Bequest CXXIII 184a
Pencil on white wove printing paper, 75 x 117 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The view in this rough sketch is to the west, looking through the arches to Cathedral Green. The gateway runs between Wells Cathedral’s chapter house on the left and the Vicars’ Close, to the right on the near side of the gateway. The drawing continues on folio 188 recto opposite (D08709; CXXIII 185), showing the upper part of the structure. Turner first drew the gate from the Cathedral Green side in the Smaller South Wales sketchbook when passing through the city in 1795 (Tate D00464; Turner Bequest XXV 3).
There is a slight sketch of the cathedral on folio 190 recto (D08711; CXXIII 187).

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Chain Gate, Wells 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2011, 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-the-chain-gate-wells-r1137186, accessed 19 April 2024.