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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Severn Valley, Chester and Peak District ... > Worcester and Shrewsbury Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bridgnorth from the South ?1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bridgnorth from the South’ ?1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 80 Recto:
Bridgnorth from the South ?1831
D22297
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 79
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 191 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘79’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXIX – 79’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject was identified as ‘Bridgenorth’ (sic) by A.J. Finberg (died 1939) and the watercolour and Turner scholar C.F. Bell (died 1966) in undated manuscript notes in copies of Finberg’s 1909 Inventory.1 For Shrewsbury, as suggested by Finberg in 1909, see under folio 12 verso (D22172).
The view, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, is along the valley of the River Severn, looking north, and continues across folio 79 verso opposite (D22296; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 78a). On the skyline are the leaning ruins of Bridgnorth Castle, the classical tower of St Mary Magdalene’s Church and the tower of St Leonard’s in the distance. In the foreground is the river, with a lightly indicated sailing boat on the left and a seated figure on the near bank, the diagonal stroke beside him perhaps representing a fishing rod.
There is a similar view on folio 1 recto (D22151), under which other sketches are mentioned, and on folios 77verso–78 recto (D22292, D22293; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 76a, 77) and the recto (D22295).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

1
A.J. Finberg, undated MS notes in a copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, vol.II, p.736; C.F. Bell, undated MS notes in another copy at the same location, vol.II, p.736; confirmed by Ian Warrell in notes from 1993 and later in Tate catalogue files.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Bridgnorth from the South ?1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-bridgnorth-from-the-south-r1148945, accessed 27 September 2024.