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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ashby-de-la-Zouch from the West; Landscape Sketches and Diagrams 1830

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 92 Verso:
Ashby-de-la-Zouch from the West; Landscape Sketches and Diagrams 1830
D22150
Turner Bequest CCXXXVIII 90a
Pencil on white wove paper, 203 x 120 mm
Partial watermark ‘rnard | 20’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Ashby’ bottom right
Inscribed in pencil ‘42’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Made with the page turned vertically, there are several views here. The main one, across the middle of the page, shows St Helen’s Church and Ashby Castle from the west. The church tower can be seen today from this angle from Kilwardby Street, but the castle is obscured by later buildings.
Above this sketch, working down from the top there are one or two thumbnail sketches of buildings in landscapes, a faint view along a street, with what appears to be the tower of St Helen’s beyond, and a slight sketch of buildings and trees. Below, there are tentative vertical and horizontal lines and a zigzag at the bottom centre, which may have some geometric or architectural significance. Other slight views continue in bands ‘above’ on the inside of the back cover (D41046). There is a small sketch in the contemporary Birmingham and Coventry sketchbook which appears to show a similar distant prospect (Tate D22355; Turner Bequest CCXL 19).
For other views of Ashby, see under folio 21 verso (D22012; CCXXXVIII 21).

Matthew Imms
August 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Ashby-de-la-Zouch from the West; Landscape Sketches and Diagrams 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-ashby-de-la-zouch-from-the-west-landscape-sketches-and-r1148791, accessed 20 September 2024.