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 The Armoury, Abbotsford 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Armoury, Abbotsford’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 66 Recto:
The Armoury, Abbotsford 1831
D26044
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 68
Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 113 x 185 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘68’ bottom left inverted and ‘271’ top left inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVII – 68’ top left inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook inverted on folios 65 verso–66 (D26043, D26044; CCLXVII 67a, 66) are sketches of Sir Walter Scott’s Armoury at Abbotsford. The view on the present page is from the north-west corner of the room near the window, looking across the room and through the archway to the ante room. On each wall are displayed items of weaponry, armour and hunting trophies. These include on the left (east) wall: a pair of antlers, a shield (or breastplate) hung in front of three crossed swords, two guns (perhaps the Spanish double-barrelled flint-lock gun and the gun that purportedly belonged to Rob Roy), and several daggers, powder horns and other such items. Above and either side of the archway to the ante room are swords and further items of weaponry.1
There are two further views of the armoury on folio 65 verso. For references to other sketches of Abbotsford, see folio 62 verso (D26037; CCLXVII 64a).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

1
For Scott’s collection of arms and armour see, A.V.B. Norman, ‘Arms and armour at Abbotsford’, Apollo, vol.76, 1963, pp.525–9; Major-General Sir Walter Maxwell Scott, Guide to Abbotsford, new edition, revised by Dr. James Corson, London [circa 1975], p.12; Clive Wainwright, The romantic interior: the British collector at home, 1750–1850, London 1989, pp.199–206.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘The Armoury, 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-the-armoury-abbotsford-r1134412, accessed 26 April 2024.