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

There are drawings with three separate orientations on this page. The general subject was noted as ‘Hereford’ by A.J. Finberg (died 1939) and the watercolour and Turner scholar C.F. Bell (died 1966) in undated manuscript amendments to copies of Finberg’s 1909 Inventory,1 but there seems no reason to doubt Finberg’s original Worcester identification.

At the top left, inverted relative to the sketchbooks foliation, is part of a view of the city from the east, including (from left to right) the church towers of St Helen’s, All Saints and St Swithun’s, and the spires of St Andrew’s and St Nicholas’s; the prospect continues to the left with Worcester Cathedral on folio 87 recto opposite (D22311; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 86). The distant feature towards the left on this page may be Ankerdine Hill, some seven or eight miles west-north-west; the viewpoint appears to be in the vicinity of Wyld’s Lane, east of Fort Royal Hill, but later housing precludes a clear view.

At the bottom left, the other way up, is a distant prospect of Worcester, looking south-west towards the Malvern Hills. At the outer edge, drawn with the page turned vertically, is a study of a single-arched bridge with figures, with trees and a tower in the distance, as yet unidentified.

For other views of Worcester, see under folio 2 verso (D22154).