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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Likely English, Scottish or Welsh ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Valley with a River and Distant Hills; Studies of Trees and Buildings c.1820-40

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Valley with a River and Distant Hills; Studies of Trees and Buildings’ c.1820-40
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
A Valley with a River and Distant Hills; Studies of Trees and Buildings c.1820–40
D34450
Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 93
Pencil on paper, 195 x 281 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Straw]’ towards bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom centre
Inscribed in red ink ‘93’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCXLIV 93’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of six sketches on a single sheet (see the technical notes below) showing the landscape of a broad river valley with scattered buildings and distant hills, in the vicinity of a distinctive medieval church (see Tate D34449, D34452, D34453; Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 92, 95, 96). The setting is unidentified but may be in the North of England or Lowland Scotland. The present view includes cottages or a farm in the right foreground, and a waggon with a lightly indicated figure. Above to the left and right are additional thumbnail sketches of buildings and trees.
Finberg placed the sheet somewhat arbitrarily in a large ‘Miscellaneous: black and white’ grouping dated between about 1830 and 1841.1 It was presumably drawn directly during an unidentified tour, and is placed in the present section and given the widest date range assigned to other works here pending further investigation, although it could well be earlier.
The verso of this part of the sheet is Tate D34453 (Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 96).
1
See Finberg 1909, II, p.1116.
Technical notes:
D34449–D34453 (Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 92–96) share a single sheet, some 550 x 384 mm overall, which was folded into eighths. Each of the five (D34451 comprising two sketches) occupies two eighths in varying orientations except D34452, which is half the area. D34453 is the only drawing on the other side. Each is stamped and numbered individually.
The present quarter of the sheet has a vertical central fold, with a slight loss at the bottom; the top edge is slightly irregular.

Matthew Imms
August 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Valley with a River and Distant Hills; Studies of Trees and Buildings c.1820–40 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-valley-with-a-river-and-distant-hills-studies-of-trees-and-r1184466, accessed 26 April 2024.