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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dumfries and Lincluden Abbey 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dumfries and Lincluden Abbey’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 55 Verso:
Dumfries and Lincluden Abbey 1831
D25870
Turner Bequest CCLXVI 55a
Pencil on white wove paper, 187 x 114 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner at the upper centre left [illegible]
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The two sketches on this page are of the town of Dumfries and Lincluden Abbey (which is just to the north of the town). With the sketchbook turned to the right the sketch at the top of the page probably shows the ruins of the nave of Lincluden Collegiate Church. To its left are three architectural details: a narrow niche, a carved square shield, and another shield with an inscription transcribed above it.
Across the centre of the page is a sketch of bridges over the River Nith at Dumfries. The view is from the north and shows the bridge that now carries the A780 road with Devorgilla Bridge behind it. There is a windmill at the right and at the left are three towers which are, from left to right, Greyfriars Kirk, Midsteeple and St Michael’s Church.
There is another view from the opposite side on the two bridges on folio 56 (D25871). That sketch continues slightly onto the bottom of the present page.

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Dumfries and Lincluden Abbey 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-dumfries-and-lincluden-abbey-r1134237, accessed 21 September 2024.