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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Farnley Hall and Yorkshire c.1808-24 > Yorkshire Subjects around Farnley and ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Trees by the River Washburn ?1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trees by the River Washburn’ ?1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Trees by the River Washburn ?1824
D17769
Turner Bequest CCIII L
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 189 x 230 mm
Watermark ‘C Wilmot | 1822’
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCIII – L’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As discussed under Tate D17771 (Turner Bequest CCIII N) and recognised by Finberg in his sequencing,1 Tate D17768–D17772 (Turner Bequest CCIII K, L, M, N, O) form a group of similar wooded river valley subjects in pencil and wash. D17771 is the only one firmly identified as a view on the River Washburn, between Folly Hall and Dob Park Lodge, but Ian Warrell has plausibly suggested that they all probably represent the river,2 not far from Walter Fawkes’s home at Farnley Hall (see David Hill’s introduction to this section).
The rocks in the foreground here may be stepping stones. For more on the subject, dating and technique of the five related drawings, see under D17771.
1
See Finberg 1909, I, p.617.
2
See Ian Warrell, ‘R.N. Wornum and the First Three Loan Collections: A History of the Early Display of the Turner Bequest outside London’, Turner Studies, vol.11, no.1, Summer 1991, p.40 under no.52.
Technical notes:
There are adventitious brown splashes at the top centre and to the right of the centre.
Finberg described the five drawings listed above as ‘a series all drawn in wash and on paper of same size and quality, with gilt edges on three sides’; all five retain the gilt edges except along the bottom, suggesting they may be half sheets, or blank pages extracted from a bound volume. Three also bear the ‘C Wilmot | 1822’ watermark he mentions.1 Paper conservator Peter Bower notes that Charles Wilmott operated at Shoreham Mill in Kent, and the spelling in his known watermarks varies between ‘Wilmot’, ‘Wilmott’ and ‘Willmott’.2
1
See Finberg 1909, I, p.617.
2
See Peter Bower, Turner’s Later Papers: A Study of the Manufacture, Selection and Use of his Drawing Papers 1820–1851, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1999, p.55.
Verso:
Blank; laid down. Finberg notes a ‘Slight pencil drawing on back’1 which is currently inaccessible.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

1
Finberg 1909, I, p.617.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Trees by the River Washburn ?1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-trees-by-the-river-washburn-r1183704, accessed 23 November 2024.