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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Midlands 1794-1802 > Drawings Made on the Midland Tour > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Houses, and a Church with a Tall Spire, Seen through a Ruined Gothic Window 1794

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Houses, and a Church with a Tall Spire, Seen through a Ruined Gothic Window’ 1794
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Houses, and a Church with a Tall Spire, Seen through a Ruined Gothic Window 1794
D00370
Turner Bequest XXII Q
Pencil on white wove paper, 278 x 216 mm
Watermark ‘J WHATMAN’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘WALTON’ on building below centre
Stamped in black ‘XXII Q’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg suggested that this is a view of the church of All Saints, Wakefield, Yorkshire (now Wakefield Cathedral). The spire at Wakefield is the highest in Yorkshire; Turner’s drawing does not suggest great height; and the ruined medieval building in the foreground does not correspond with any at Wakefield.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed in a later hand ‘11’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Houses, and a Church with a Tall Spire, Seen through a Ruined Gothic Window 1794 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-houses-and-a-church-with-a-tall-spire-seen-through-a-ruined-r1141070, accessed 26 April 2024.