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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > North of England Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Jedburgh: The Town and Abbey Seen from the South-East 1797

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Jedburgh: The Town and Abbey Seen from the South-East’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 67 Recto:
Jedburgh: The Town and Abbey Seen from the South-East 1797
D00972
Turner Bequest XXXIV 63
Pencil on white wove paper, 210 x 270 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘63’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXIV 63’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
A church probably existed at Jedburgh in the early ninth century; the grand buildings of which substantial ruins survive today were begun soon after the establishment of an abbey in about 1154, testimony to the aspirations of King David I of Scotland to spiritual authority. The buildings fell into ruin after the Reformation, though parts continued to be used as a parish church until the later nineteenth century.
The subject is drawn with the page turned horizontally. Turner made another view of Jedburgh on the next page, folio 68 recto (D00973; Turner Bequest XXXIV 64). David Hill suggests that he discussed these subjects with Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), who exhibited views of Jedburgh at the Royal Academy in the 1797 exhibition, just before Turner began his tour. He returned to Jedburgh in connection with his work on Scott’s Poetical Works and a made a watercolour (Taft Museum, Cincinnati)1 that was engraved in 1833 by Robert Brandard (Tate impression: T04947).
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.427 no.1072, reproduced.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Jedburgh: The Town and Abbey Seen from the South-East 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-jedburgh-the-town-and-abbey-seen-from-the-south-east-r1150128, accessed 20 April 2024.