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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Folkestone and the Medway c.1821-2 > Folkestone Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Church, Probably in Oxfordshire c.1821-2

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Church, Probably in Oxfordshire’ c.1821-2
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Recto:
A Church, Probably in Oxfordshire c.1821–2
D17207
Turner Bequest CXCVIII 1
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 187 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘St [?Justs] Ox’ towards top left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘1’ bottom right of original surviving page
Stamped in black ‘CXCVIII – 1’ bottom right of original surviving page
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This quick study of a church in the top left hand corner of one of the damaged pages of the sketchbook is swiftly and neatly rendered. As Finberg notes, Turner’s annotations appear to identify it as St Justs, Ox[ford], however there are only two British churches dedicated to this saint, both in Cornwall.1 The location and identity of the church remain unfortunately unclear, although presumed or identified views of Oxford and the surrounding area can be found in the surrounding pages, on the inside front cover, and folios 1 verso, 2 recto and verso, 5 recto, 17 recto, 87 verso, and 88 recto (D40685, D17208–D17210, D17214, D17234, D17356–D17357).
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.604.
Technical notes:
Finberg makes reference to the fact that this page has been partially torn away and since made up with similar paper.1 The dimensions of the surviving original page are about 113 x 140 mm.

Maud Whatley
January 2016

1
Ibid.

How to cite

Maud Whatley, ‘A Church, Probably in Oxfordshire c.1821–2 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 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-church-probably-in-oxfordshire-r1184481, accessed 19 April 2024.