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 A West Country Valley with Buildings on a Hillside in the Distance 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A West Country Valley with Buildings on a Hillside in the Distance’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 252 Recto:
A West Country Valley with Buildings on a Hillside in the Distance 1811
D08804
Turner Bequest CXXIII 249
Pencil on white laid paper, 75 x 117 mm
Watermark ‘17 8’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?S W ...]’ top right, and ‘w’, ‘w’ and ‘water’ within drawing below centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘249’ top left, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXIII – 249’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Various points on the valley floor are marked ‘water’ or ‘w’. Receding in the immediate foreground is probably the road noted by Finberg, although it is unclear where it continues within the various features in the landscape. There are buildings up the hill to the left, and possibly another towards the top right, but the view has not been identified. Given that it is drawn towards the end of the sketchbook, the scene was perhaps observed towards the conclusion of Turner’s West Country tour, although its relative position is no guarantee of this given Turner’s sometimes random use of the pages in this book.
The views on folio 251 verso opposite (D08803; CXXIII 248a), particularly the upper one, may show other aspects of the same locality.

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A West Country Valley with Buildings on a Hillside in the Distance 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-a-west-country-valley-with-buildings-on-a-hillside-in-the-r1137283, accessed 19 April 2024.