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

D00155, D00156, D00161, D00176, D00184–D00186, D00379, D40228, D40229

Turner Bequest XIV B, C, XV E, XVII A, XVII I–K, XXIII E

The technique of these watercolours, especially as regards the treatment of architecture, seems to have been influenced by Turner’s study of the work of Michael ‘Angelo’ Rooker (1746–1801), especially perhaps his copying of details from Rooker’s exhibited view of Battle Abbey at the Royal Academy’s exhibition of 1792 (Tate D00193, D00192; Turner Bequest XVII Q, R). Turner may have gained personal knowledge of Rooker as a fellow scene-painter while he as working at the Pantheon Oxford Street (see under Tate D00121; Turner Bequest IX A). As with the pencil drawings discussed elsewhere in this 1791–3 section of the catalogue, there is appreciable technical development, but a precise chronology is difficult to determine.