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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > European River and Lowland Scenes > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Gothic Church with a Rose Window beyond Trees c.1824

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Gothic Church with a Rose Window beyond Trees’ c.1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Gothic Church with a Rose Window beyond Trees c.1824
D20508
Turner Bequest CCXXIV 198
Chalk and pencil on paper, 280 x 193 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCXXIV 198’ bottom left, descending vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In the centre of this chalk and pencil sketch is a Gothic church with a rose window on a pedimented façade, two spires rise up on either side, reaching a level exceeding in height the apex of the pediment. No roof is discernible suggesting the building may be in a state of ruin. Vertical lines running along the main structure of the building indicate its buttressing. Trees frame the image to the left and the right. A closer view of the same church is depicted in D20509 (CCXXIV 199), the other half of this folded sheet, and an even closer one can be found on its verso, D20510 (CCXXIV 199v).
For the grouping and dating of these works, see the section Introduction.
Technical notes:
This sketch is on the same sheet as D20509 (CCXXIV 199) and its verso (D20510; CCXXIV 199v). The two halves are separated by a faint line of a fold that runs down the centre of the sheet; the half with this sketch on it measures 140 x 193mm. The left edge of the page is frayed and discoloured.
Verso:
Blank except for inscriptions. Inscribed in ink ‘198’ top left, upside down. Inscribed in pencil ‘235 | O’ top left.

Ben Pollitt
August 2019

How to cite

Ben Pollitt, ‘Gothic Church with a Rose Window beyond Trees c.1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2019, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-gothic-church-with-a-rose-window-beyond-trees-r1202146, accessed 21 November 2024.