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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Midlands 1830 > Birmingham and Coventry Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Birmingham 1830

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Birmingham’ 1830
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Verso:
?Birmingham 1830
D22330
Turner Bequest CCXL 4a
Pencil on white wove paper, 110 x 68 mm
Partial watermark ‘er | 27’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?new C]’ top right, ‘St Philip | St Peters | + + St Thomas’ towards top left and ‘new’ towards top right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s rough inscriptions, possibly made while in motion, are clustered round a slight sketch of a skyline with towers or chimneys descending from the top left. The saints’ names Philip, Peter and Thomas all correspond to the dedications of Birmingham churches. The phrase at the top right is particularly scrambled, but may be ‘new C’, possibly as a note of a recent church or canal.
For other Birmingham views, see under folio 3 recto (D22327).

Matthew Imms
August 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?Birmingham 1830 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2013, 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-birmingham-r1148480, accessed 24 April 2024.