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 Trees, Probably by the River Thames at Barnes; Buildings or a Town, Probably in the Midlands c.1827, 1830

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trees, Probably by the River Thames at Barnes; Buildings or a Town, Probably in the Midlands’ c.1827, 1830
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 60 Verso:
Trees, Probably by the River Thames at Barnes; Buildings or a Town, Probably in the Midlands c.1827, 1830
D22438
Turner Bequest CCXL 60a
Pencil on white wove paper, 68 x 110 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?corn ...]’ towards bottom right, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg did not note the small sketch at the outer edge, made with the page turned vertically. It shows trees and buildings, possibly ruins or a distant town or village, apparently inscribed ‘corn’ in the foreground, followed by what seems to be a single, illegible word. This may be a thumbnail sketch of a Midlands subject from the 1830 tour.
It is squeezed into a gap beside the more prominent drawing of trees, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, which falls within a sequence of views on the River Thames in the vicinity of Hammersmith Bridge. There is a similar sketch, perhaps continuous with this, on folio 61 recto opposite (D22439), and a study of trees by the river on folio 61 verso (D22440). As the views of the bridge from folio 62 recto (D22441) onwards appear to be from the more rural south bank at Barnes, these trees were probably observed nearby.
For other views along the Thames between the bridges at Hammersmith and Putney, see under folio 58 verso (D22434).

Matthew Imms
August 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Trees, Probably by the River Thames at Barnes; Buildings or a Town, Probably in the Midlands c.1827, 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-trees-probably-by-the-river-thames-at-barnes-buildings-or-a-r1148588, accessed 25 April 2024.