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 Abbotsford 1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Abbotsford’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 17 Recto:
Abbotsford 1831
D25958
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 17
Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 113 x 185 mm
Inscribed in blue ink and John Ruskin ‘17’ top left and ‘271’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVII – 17’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The various sketches of Abbotsford on this page were made on two days and are all accounted for in Robert Cadell’s diary. Starting at the top left is the continuation of a sketch from folio 16 verso (D25957; CCLXVII 16a), which Turner made from near Langlee to the north of Abbotsford on 8 August (see folio 16 verso for references).1 Along the bottom of the page are three small sketches of Abbotsford from directly across the Tweed to the west. Turner made these views after having made his sketch on folio 16 verso, as Robert Cadell explained in his diary:
we now crossed the Gala & drove to opposite Abbotsford. Mr Turner took two sketches from knolls opposite the house2
Above this, the largest sketch on the page has been matched by Gerald Finley to Cadell’s description of a view Turner took on the following day, 9 August 1831: ‘Mr T. took a sketch of the east end of the House after we got to the (?top) of the brae above the gardeners house’.3
For references to Turner’s other sketches of Abbotsford see folio 16 verso.

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

1
Finley 1972, p.383 note 143.
2
Robert Cadell, ‘Abbotsford Diary’, Monday 8 August 1831, National Library of Scotland, MS Acc. 5188, Box 12, folio 109; Finley 1972, p.383.
3
Robert Cadell, ‘Abbotsford Diary’, Tuesday 9 August 1831, folio 111; Finley 1972, p.384 note 144.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Abbotsford 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-abbotsford-r1134328, accessed 19 April 2024.