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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Severn Valley, Chester and Peak District ... > Worcester and Shrewsbury Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Mills or Factories, Possibly in the Peak District or Manchester ?1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Mills or Factories, Possibly in the Peak District or Manchester’ ?1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 49 Recto:
?Mills or Factories, Possibly in the Peak District or Manchester ?1831
D22241
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 49
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 191 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘49’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXIX – 49’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this sketch presently remains elusive. Finberg noted simply a ‘Bridge, with town’, while Ian Warrell tentatively added a little more detail: ‘?Town above a river, with a 3 arched bridge, and ?fortification on left’.1 These large structures might also represent a mill or industrial complex, with a conical chimney towards the left; the façades to left and right are characterised by a degree of decoration, albeit indicated rather cursorily.
The drawing falls between various Derbyshire Peak District subjects in this sketchbook (see the Introduction and under folio 21 recto; D22187). However, as they stand today, Lumford Mill, on the River Wye near Bakewell, Cressbrook Mill or Litton Mill, up-river towards Buxton, cannot be securely linked with the study. Assuming an industrial subject, Manchester may be another possibility (see under folio 12 recto; D22171).
1
Ian Warrell, notes from 1993 and later in Tate catalogue files.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
April 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?Mills or Factories, Possibly in the Peak District or Manchester ?1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-mills-or-factories-possibly-in-the-peak-district-or-r1148887, accessed 20 April 2024.