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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > London and Home Counties 1793-5 > Hertfordshire and Middlesex > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner St Albans: The West Porch of the Abbey 1793

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘St Albans: The West Porch of the Abbey’ 1793
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
St Albans: The West Porch of the Abbey 1793
D00345
Turner Bequest XXI R
Pencil on white wove paper, 202 x 327 mm
Watermark ‘J WHATMAN’
Stamped in black ‘XXI R’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg placed this sheet with drawings from the Midland tour of 1794, suggesting that it represented the entrance to the cloisters at Lincoln. The identification of the porch at St Albans is clear from a comparison with the relevant portion of the subject of Tate D00385 (Turner Bequest XXIII K). It is a tentative and incomplete study and the draughtsmanship is weak, which might suggest that it is the work of an associate working alongside Turner at St Albans. But compare Tate D00346 (XXI S), which shares some of its awkwardness while being altogether more assured. Other studies at St Albans are Tate D00385, D00387, D01100 and D01893 (Turner Bequest XXIII K, M, XXXVI F, XLIV Q).
Technical notes:
The sheet is slightly irregular, having been torn along its top edge.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘St Albans: The West Porch of the Abbey 1793 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-st-albans-the-west-porch-of-the-abbey-r1140276, accessed 17 July 2024.