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 > Tweed and Lakes Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Aira Force 1797

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Aira Force’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 27 Recto:
Aira Force 1797
D01080
Turner Bequest XXXV 78
Pencil with watercolour on white wove paper, 370 x 274 mm
Part watermark ‘E & P’
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram at centre (within the wash)
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘g moss’ on stone in centre foreground
Stamped in black ‘XXXV 78’ bottom right
Bound now with the drawing of Lodore Falls on folio 28 recto (D01087; Turner Bequest XXXV 85), and thought to be Lodore by both Finberg and the mountaineer and art historian Peter Bicknell,1 the subject has been identified by Turner scholar David Hill as showing Aira Force, at the south-western end of Ullswater, half a mile from the north shore of the lake; Hill suggests it would be better placed immediately after the Ullswater view on folio 55 recto (D01043; Turner Bequest XXXV 41).2
1
Oral communication.
2
See Hill 1996, pp.193, 194.
Technical notes:
The upper right and two lower corners have been torn away and repaired.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘720’; inscribed in another hand in pencil ‘78’.

Andrew Wilton
August 2010

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Aira Force 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2010, 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-aira-force-r1150191, accessed 21 November 2024.