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

The trees in the lower right quadrant, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, were recorded at Virginia Water in about 1827, continuing from the panorama over the lake on folios 87 verso–88 recto (D22140, D22141; Turner Bequest CCXXXVIII 85a, 86).

There are two further views, presumably made on Turner’s 1830 Midlands tour. One runs across the upper half of the page, and the other is crammed into the lower left quadrant, overlapping slightly with the upper drawing and the Virginia Water continuation. The upper view appears to centre on the west end and tower of a Gothic church, seen from the south-west, set on an eminence with houses below including a prominent building with several chimneys to its left, another spire beyond, and two tall industrial chimney stacks, one issuing smoke, further to the left near a low church tower. These last features are what prompt a Midlands identification in the context of the known subjects in this sketchbook. The view at the bottom left shows the same church, apparently from the north with the prominent building now in front of the tower.

There is a variation of the upper view, showing the full height of the church spire, on folio 86 recto opposite (D22138; Turner Bequest CCXXXVIII 84), with a note apparently of ‘Reeds’ in the foreground, suggesting a riverside viewpoint. The fragmentary sketches on folio 88 verso (D22142; CCXXXVIII 86a) appear to show the same town.