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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Bristol and Malmesbury 1791 > Bristol and Malmesbury Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of the Ruins of Malmesbury Abbey from the South-East 1791

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of the Ruins of Malmesbury Abbey from the South-East’ 1791
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 12 Recto:
View of the Ruins of Malmesbury Abbey from the South-East 1791
D00086
Turner Bequest VI 12
Pencil and watercolour with pen and brown ink on white wove paper, 185 x 263 mm
Watermark ‘J WHATMAN’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The composition is continued to the right on folio 13 recto (D00087). Another version of the view is Tate D00112 (Turner Bequest VII E) which was perhaps originally a leaf from this sketchbook. A finished watercolour of the subject is in the Bury Art Gallery.1 Finberg notes that ‘the only colours used are Indian Ink, brown, gamboge [yellow] and blue.’
1
Wilton 1979, p.303 no.26, reproduced.
Technical notes:
The Whatman paper of which this sheet is made is different from the rest of the book.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by Turner in pen and brown ink ‘South East View of | Malmsbury Abbey 1791’ right centre, descending vertically; stamped in black ink with Turner Bequest monogram bottom left.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘View of the Ruins of Malmesbury Abbey from the South-East 1791 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-view-of-the-ruins-of-malmesbury-abbey-from-the-south-east-r1140137, accessed 26 April 2024.