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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Work for Earls Egremont and Lonsdale ... > Kirkstall Lock Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A River Valley 1809

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A River Valley’ 1809
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
A River Valley 1809
D12248
Turner Bequest CLV 7
Pencil on white wove paper, 186 x 231 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Weeds’, ‘[... illegible] Lock’
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘7’, bottom right
Stamped in black in ‘CLV 7’, bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg identified the subject as ‘Near Kirkstall Lock’, but this appears to be groundless. Given the proximity of sketches of Cassiobury from the sketchbook, and the mention of a ‘Lock’ in the inscription, this is possibly a view of the Grand Union Canal in the Colne Valley near Rickmansworth. For the canal, see note to D12241; Turner Bequest CLV 2.
Verso:
Blank, except for an inscription (?by one of the Executors of the Turner Bequest) in pencil ‘Sched 164.11 (10 cut out)’. The majority of pages in this sketchbook are similarly inscribed (for the significance of this see notes to Tate D12241, D12244; Turner Bequest CLV 2, 4a). The inscription in this case additionally tells us that at the time that the original schedule of the Bequest was drawn up, already one page between this and the original page 9 (D12249; Turner Bequest CLV 8) had been removed [‘cut out’]. This must presumably be identifiable with one of the few leaves that are not inscribed in this manner.
Also inscribed by an unknown hand in pencil ‘Unmounted/ CLV/ Box 97’, bottom right, presumably in relation to a previous Turner Bequest box system in which the drawing was stored.

David Hill
June 2009

How to cite

David Hill, ‘A River Valley 1809 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-river-valley-r1134660, accessed 21 November 2024.