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 > Watercolours and Drawings Related to the ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Oxford: Folly Bridge, Seen from the South-East 1797-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Oxford: Folly Bridge, Seen from the South-East’ 1797-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Oxford: Folly Bridge, Seen from the South-East 1797–8
D01879
Turner Bequest XLIV C
Pencil with watercolour 207 x 266 mm
Stamped in black ‘XLIV – C’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner here adopts the viewpoint of the 1780 Oxford Almanack design by Michael Angelo Rooker (1746–1801) that he had copied in 1787 (Tate D00001; Turner Bequest I A). As Harrison points out, the building known as ‘Friar Bacon’s Study’ conspicuous in that subject had since been demolished and does not feature here. A finished watercolour, based on this drawing and dated verso ‘1800’, is in the collection of (Aberystwyth University).1 Both signature and date on that drawing seem to be incorrect, and the sheet more probably belongs to 1797–8. It is possibly a copy drawing made for use by a pupil; see the section of the present catalogue concerning such drawings made between about 1794 and 1798.
For the dating of this drawing and contemporary views in the Oxford area, see under Tate D02358 (Turner Bequest L Q).
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.314 no.132. reproduced.
Technical notes:
This is one of a sequence of sixteen Yorkshire and other subjects included in the present subsection which were executed on uniform sheets of paper, as discussed and listed in the Introduction. Although executed in a markedly freer manner and with a softer pencil point than the other drawings, the drawing is evidently one of the sequence.
Verso:
Blank; not stamped.

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Oxford: Folly Bridge, Seen from the South-East 1797–8 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-oxford-folly-bridge-seen-from-the-south-east-r1150291, accessed 25 April 2024.