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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Oxford c.1787-91 > Oxford Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of Nuneham Courtenay, near Abingdon, from the South-West c.1789

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of Nuneham Courtenay, near Abingdon, from the South-West’ c.1789
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 6 Recto:
View of Nuneham Courtenay, near Abingdon, from the South-West c.1789
D00016
Turner Bequest II 6
Pencil on white laid paper, 160 x 249 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?2 B 6 W]’ towards bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘6’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘II 6’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Unless the sketchbook is earlier in date than other evidence suggests, this study must have been made on the spot, rather than as preparation for the finished view of 1787 (Tate D00002; Turner Bequest I B) which is, however, very close in viewpoint and general composition. See also folio 10 recto (D00022). The summary quality of the drawing suggests that it was intended merely as an aide-mémoire to corroborate the accuracy of the print from which D00002 was copied, but Turner evidently went back to the subject to make the more detailed study on D00022.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘View of Nuneham Courtenay, near Abingdon, from the South-West c.1789 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-nuneham-courtenay-near-abingdon-from-the-south-west-r1140169, accessed 26 April 2024.