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 St John's-in-the-Vale, Cumbria 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘St John's-in-the-Vale, Cumbria’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 29 Verso:
St John’s-in-the-Vale, Cumbria 1831
D25580
Turner Bequest CCLXIV 29a
Pencil on white wove paper, 94 x 74 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘St John Vale’ upper centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s inscription tells us that this rough little sketch, made with the book turned to the right, is of St John’s-in-the-Vale, a valley east of Derwentwater and north of Thirlwater (though the reservoir had not yet been created) that Turner passed on his journey to Penrith. The valley lies between Low and High Rigg and Clough Head. Turner had sketched the valley over thirty years before in the Tweed and Lakes sketchbook (Tate D01034; Turner Bequest XXXV 32). He made another sketch on this tour in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border sketchbook (Tate D25819; Turner Bequest CCLXVI 30).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘St John’s-in-the-Vale, Cumbria 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-st-johns-in-the-vale-cumbria-r1133940, accessed 23 April 2024.