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 Views of Shrewsbury: The Castle and Town ?1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Views of Shrewsbury: The Castle and Town’ ?1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 72 Verso:
Views of Shrewsbury: The Castle and Town ?1831
D22282
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 71a
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 191 mm
Partial watermark ‘nard | 20’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Ferry’ centre left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
There are two main sketches here, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. Across the middle Shrewsbury Castle is seen from the north-west (apparently through trees, unless these comprise an overlapping sketch), with the tower of Shrewsbury School (now Shrewsbury Library) on the right. Above is an outline from a similar angle, with the church spires of St Mary the Virgin and St Alkmund to the right. The viewpoint may be the opposite bank of the Severn at the neck of the peninsula formed by the loop of the river surrounding the town centre.
Compare the views on the recto (D22281) and folio 73 recto opposite (D22283; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 72). For other sketches of the town, see under folio 24 recto (D22182).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Views of Shrewsbury: The Castle and Town ?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-views-of-shrewsbury-the-castle-and-town-r1148930, accessed 20 September 2024.