Joseph Mallord William Turner Bolton Abbey and the River Wharfe, from the South 1816
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Recto:
Bolton Abbey and the River Wharfe, from the South 1816
D09887
Turner Bequest CXXXIV 82
Turner Bequest CXXXIV 82
Pencil on white wove paper with gilt edges, 179 x 254 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Black]’ top right, ‘[?Stone]’ bottom centre, and ‘Beautiful R[...]’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXXXIV – 81 – 82’ bottom right
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Black]’ top right, ‘[?Stone]’ bottom centre, and ‘Beautiful R[...]’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXXXIV – 81 – 82’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1904
National Gallery, London, various dates to at least 1904 (525 (b)).
References
1904
E.T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn eds., Library Edition: The Works of John Ruskin: Volume XIII: Turner: The Harbours of England; Catalogues and Notes, London 1904, pp.254 no.12, 633 no.525 (b). as ‘Sketch of Bolton Abbey (about 1800)’.
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.383, CXXXIV 82, as ‘Bolton Abbey ... See Water Colour engraved in “England and Wales.”’.
1910
Alexander J. Finberg, Turner’s Sketches and Drawings, London 1910, pp.109–11, pl.LXIV.
1924
Herbert E. Wroot, ‘Turner in Yorkshire: His Wanderings and Sketches’, reprinted from the Thoresby Society’s Miscellanea, Leeds [1924], p.237.
1979
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Picturesque Views in England and Wales 1825–1838, London 1979, p.156.
1979
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.391 under no.788.
1980
David Hill, Stanley Warburton, Mary Tussey and others, Turner in Yorkshire, exhibition catalogue, York City Art Gallery 1980, pp.30 under no.33, 92 under no.144. as c.1815 and c.1814–15 respectively.
1990
Frank Milner, J.M.W. Turner: Paintings in Merseyside Collections: Walker Art Gallery; Sudley Art Gallery; Williamson Art Gallery; Lady Lever Art Gallery; Liverpool University Art Gallery, Liverpool 1990, p.23 under no.11, reproduced.
1996
David Hill, Turner in the North: A Tour through Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, the Scottish Borders, the Lake District, Lancashire and Lincolnshire in the Year 1797, New Haven and London 1996, p.202 note 12, as 1816.
1997
Anthony Bailey, Standing in the Sun: A Life of J.M.W. Turner, London 1997, p.147.
This composition continues from folio 10 verso opposite (D09885; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 81), where the east end of the abbey is shown from the south. For other views of the abbey see under folio 7 recto (D09874; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 73). Finberg noted that the present double-page sketch is the basis for the watercolour Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire of about 1825 (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight),1 engraved in 1827 for the series Picturesque Views in England and Wales.2 He made a lengthy analysis of the differences between the present sketch and the watercolour, where ‘almost every detail has been altered’ to create ‘a whole complex of visible harmony.’3
Here the bank leads down to the river Wharfe, indicated by Turner’s inscription ‘Beautiful R[...]’, the short second word of which Finberg reads as ‘Refln’ (i.e. ‘Reflection’), but notes Ruskin’s reading ‘riple’ [sic].4
Finberg 1909, I, p.383; see also Finberg 1910, p.109; Shanes 1979, p.156; Wilton 1979, p.391; and Milner 1990, p.23.
Technical notes:
Except at the edges, the sheet has darkened through prolonged display.
Verso:
Blank, save for inscriptions: by John Ruskin in red ink ’35’ bottom left; and in pencil ‘CXXXIV.81–82’ bottom left, descending vertically
Matthew Imms
July 2014
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘Bolton Abbey and the River Wharfe, from the South 1816 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www