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 York, with the Minster, from the South-West 1797-8

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘York, with the Minster, from the South-West’ 1797-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
York, with the Minster, from the South-West 1797–8
D01096
Turner Bequest XXXVI B
Pencil, with a double ruled line round the subject, on white wove paper, 194 x 289 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘X’ on house below left of centre
Inscribed in pencil in a later hand ‘York’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘XXXVI B’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The unusual ruled border of this drawing, which is by no means a finished work, together with the generalisation and simplification of its elements, suggests that Turner may have envisaged using the subject as a view for engraving in one of John Walker’s Pocket Magazines; see Introduction to the Matlock sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest XIX) in the ‘Midlands 1794–1802’ section of this catalogue. A small finished monochrome view based on the drawing, which survives in the Turner Bequest, may have come into existence precisely for that purpose (Tate D01097, Turner Bequest XXXVI C).
Verso:
Stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed in a later hand ‘3’. There is a slight and faint pencil sketch of a broad slope with trees and a grotto or fountain with statues, which is difficult to interpret. It does not seem to have anything to do with Turner’s 1797 North of England tour, and may be by another hand.

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘York, with the Minster, from the South-West 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-york-with-the-minster-from-the-south-west-r1150276, accessed 21 November 2024.