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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1811 > Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Wells Cathedral from the Bishop's Palace 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Wells Cathedral from the Bishop's Palace’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 190 Recto:
Wells Cathedral from the Bishop’s Palace 1811
D08711
Turner Bequest CXXIII 187
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Wells’ towards centre right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘187’ top left, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXIII – 187’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The slight view of Wells Cathedral is from the grounds of the Bishop’s Palace to its south. On folios 187 verso–188 recto (D08708, D08709; CXXIII 184a–185) is a view of the Chain Gate running from the north side of the cathedral.
There are detailed studies made at Wells in 1795 in the Smaller South Wales sketchbook (Tate D00463–D00466; Turner Bequest XXV 2, 3, 4, 5) and the South Wales sketchbook (Tate D00553, D00554; Turner Bequest XXVI 1, 2), and a finished watercolour of about that date showing the West Front (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight).1
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.314 no.134, reproduced.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Wells Cathedral from the Bishop’s Palace 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2011, 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-wells-cathedral-from-the-bishops-palace-r1137189, accessed 26 April 2024.