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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Rhymer's Glen, Abbotsford; and ?Kelso c.1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Rhymer's Glen, Abbotsford; and ?Kelso’ c.1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 5 Recto:
Rhymer’s Glen, Abbotsford; and ?Kelso 1831
D25935
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 5
Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 185 x 113 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘5’ top left running vertically and ‘271’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVII – 5’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The sketches on this page are orientated in three directions. Turner’s first sketch was a rapidly executed depiction of Rhymer’s Glen with the stream twisting around the deep gorge, made with the book turned to the left. (For more information on the subject see folio 4 verso; D25934; CCLXVII 4a).
With the book inverted is a small view of a town with a large building and multi-arched bridge. This is probably Kelso, as it resembles a sketch on folio 22 of this sketchbook (D25966; CCLXVII 22) which shows the abbey and bridge from the west. The final sketch, made with the book turned to the right at the inner edge of the page, may also show the abbey, although this identification is uncertain.

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Rhymer’s Glen, Abbotsford; and ?Kelso 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-rhymers-glen-abbotsford-and-kelso-r1134305, accessed 13 May 2024.