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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner The East End of St Michael's Church, Coventry 1830

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Verso:
The East End of St Michael’s Church, Coventry 1830
D22346
Turner Bequest CCXL 14a
Pencil on white wove paper, 68 x 110 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘13’ towards top right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the apsidal east end of the St Michael’s Church, Coventry (later the Cathedral) is seen from Priory Street, looking south-west. The viewpoint is near the steps to the new Coventry Cathedral, built after the bombing of the medieval building in November 1940.
Only the spire (see folio 15 verso; D22348) and the shell of the outer walls, including the tracery of the windows at the east end, survive. The clerestory level at the top right here, annotated ‘13’ by Turner to show the number of windows or other details, was destroyed. The modern cathedral, running north, is built on to the north side of the ruins, extending from the lower range in the middle of Turner’s sketch. A painting of about 1824 by Edward Rudge (1789–1841) shows the church from a similar angle with graves in the foreground (Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry).
For other Coventry views, see under folio 9 verso (D22336).

Matthew Imms
August 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The East End of St Michael’s Church, Coventry 1830 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2013, 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-the-east-end-of-st-michaels-church-coventry-r1148496, accessed 29 March 2024.