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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dartmoor 1814

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 136 Verso:
Dartmoor 1814
D09648
Turner Bequest CXXXII 136a
Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 152 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘S[...]’ and ‘[...]’ top left, ‘[?Tamar Tavy]’ top right, ‘D[...]’ bottom left, ‘[...]’ bottom centre, and ‘R T[...]’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this view of a succession of relatively featureless hills stretching to the horizon is likely, as Finberg proposed,1 to show Dartmoor. Unfortunately, Turner’s various topographical annotations remain elusive, except for apparent references to the Rivers Tamar and Tavy at the top right, suggesting that they are located in the distance, on the western fringes of the moor.
For other definite or likely Dartmoor views, see under folio 8 recto (D09489).

Matthew Imms
June 2014

1
Finberg 1909, I, p.376.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Dartmoor 1814 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-dartmoor-r1147197, accessed 29 March 2024.