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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bell Tower, Berwick-upon-Tweed 1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bell Tower, Berwick-upon-Tweed’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 29 Recto:
Bell Tower, Berwick-upon-Tweed 1831
D25693
Turner Bequest CCLXV 29
Pencil on white wove paper, 59 x 96 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘29’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXV 29’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The two sketches on this page are of the Bell Tower on the medieval town wall of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Having seen the structure from a distance and included it in his study of Berwick (D26009–D26010; Turner Bequest CCLXVII 48a–49) which he was to use as the basis of his watercolour, Berwick-upon-Tweed circa 1832 (whereabouts unknown),1 Turner made his way to the structure in order to make close-up studies. These are both roughly from the west and the larger study at the centre of the page probably contributed to the appearance of this object in Turner’s watercolour.
For references to further sketches of Berwick in this sketchbook see folio 13 verso (D25665).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.430 no.1092.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Bell Tower, Berwick-upon-Tweed 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-bell-tower-berwick-upon-tweed-r1134057, accessed 26 April 2024.