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

A view of Appuldurcombe ‘size of Steephill’ (see inside front cover) was commissioned by John Landseer, according to Turner’s note on the recto of the flyleaf (D41250). No watercolour is known, and the subject was not engraved. It is odd that no more detailed study of the house itself occurs in this book; the architectural note in the top right-hand corner of this sheet must refer to the tiny drawing that appears in the left middle distance of the view – hardly a full record of what was an important if eccentric house. It had been built, and possibly designed, by Sir Robert Worsley in the first decade of the eighteenth century, and was altered and enlarged by James Wyatt for Sir Richard Worsley in the 1770s. Having been used as a school it fell into ruin in the early twentieth century and is now managed by English Heritage.

This drawing, made with the page turned horizontally, shows the view looking north-east from near Wroxall towards the obelisk erected by Sir Richard in 1774 in memory of Sir Robert, which survives today. Another member of the Worsley family, the Earl of Yarborough, of Brocklesby Hall in north Lincolnshire, became a patron of Turner’s at the end of the decade; see the dismembered Brocklesby Mausoleum sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest LXXXIII). Several members of the Worsley family including Sir Robert and Sir Richard are buried in Godshill church which Turner drew, albeit as part of a general view of the village, on folio 38 recto (D00445; Turner Bequest XXIV 37).

Verso:

Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.