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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Rokeby and Appleby Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Borrowdale of the River Derwent 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Borrowdale of the River Derwent’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 26 Recto:
?Borrowdale of the River Derwent 1831
D25573
Turner Bequest CCLXIV 26
Pencil on white wove paper, 74 x 94 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘26’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIV – 26’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg called this double-page sketch (continued on folio 25 verso; D25572) ‘Mountains, with river’. Judging by the direction of the river’s curve (bisected by the join of the two pages) and the outline of the mountains beyond, it is possible that this may be the River Derwent flowing out of Borrowdale and into Derwentwater, with Skiddaw in the distance. Another possibility is that it could be the Braythay River flowing into Windermere. The twist of the river matches, but the hills would have had to have been vastly exaggerated.

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘?Borrowdale of the River Derwent 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2009, 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-borrowdale-of-the-river-derwent-r1133933, accessed 18 April 2024.