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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
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Joseph Mallord William Turner The Cloisters and Chapter House of Worcester Cathedral; Distant Views of Worcester ?1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Cloisters and Chapter House of Worcester Cathedral; Distant Views of Worcester’ ?1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 88 Recto:
The Cloisters and Chapter House of Worcester Cathedral; Distant Views of Worcester ?1831
D22313
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 87
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 191 mm
Partial watermark ‘rnard | 20’
Inscribed by Turner ‘Chapter H’ towards top right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘87’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXIX – 87’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Ian Warrell has noted, the main subject is Worcester Cathedral, with the Chapter House seen across the cloisters;1 the decagonal structure stands below the cathedral’s south transept. There is a sketch of the vaulted interior of the cloisters on the verso (D22314).
At the outer edge of the page are two overlapping sketches, made with the book turned vertically, showing the cathedral2 and the spire of St Andrew’s Church from the north-east with the profile of the Malvern Hills beyond. For other views of Worcester, see under folio 2 verso (D22154).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

1
Ian Warrell, notes from 1993 and later in Tate catalogue files.
2
See ibid.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Cloisters and Chapter House of Worcester Cathedral; Distant Views of Worcester ?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-the-cloisters-and-chapter-house-of-worcester-cathedral-r1148961, accessed 18 April 2024.