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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > Tweed and Lakes Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner York: The Ruined West Front of St Mary's Abbey Church 1797

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘York: The Ruined West Front of St Mary's Abbey Church’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 86 Recto:
York: The Ruined West Front of St Mary’s Abbey Church 1797
D01073
Turner Bequest XXXV 71
Pencil on white wove paper, 274 x 370 mm
Watermark ‘1794 | J Whatman’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘ditto’ bottom left
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘XXXV 71’ bottom left, descending vertically
The subject was drawn with the page turned horizontally. Although a severely dilapidated ruin, St Mary’s Abbey was an important medieval site, and Turner accords this record of the principal mass of the structure much diligent attention. He incorporated a more distant view in the drawing on the preceding leaf, folio 85 recto (Tate D01072; Turner Bequest XXXV 70).
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed by A.J. Finberg in pencil ‘141.71’.

Andrew Wilton
August 2010

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘York: The Ruined West Front of St Mary’s Abbey Church 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-york-the-ruined-west-front-of-st-marys-abbey-church-r1150250, accessed 25 April 2024.