Abbotsford sketchbook 1831

Thomas Ardill

Abbotsford sketchbook 1831

Entry
Artworks

D25929–D26017; D26020–D26095 D40995–D40996

Turner Bequest CCLXVII

Sketchbook, bound in cardboard with brown leather back and one clasp, now broken. The edges were painted with what now appears as a greenish wash, and the front cover has been stamped ‘CCLXVII’ in the top-left corner.
92 leaves of post octavo off-white wove writing paper made by Joseph Jellyman at Downton Mill in Downton, Wiltshire, and watermarked ‘J JELLYMAN | 1828’. Approximate paper size 185 x 113 mm
Numbered ‘271’ as part of the Turner Schedule in 1854 and endorsed by the executors of the Turner Bequest on the inside front cover (D40995).

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Exhibition history

References

1909

A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.857.

1961

Alexander J. Finberg, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A. Second Edition, Revised, with a Supplement, by Hilda F. Finberg, revised ed., Oxford 1961, p.332.

1972

Gerald E. Finley, ‘J.M.W. Turner and Sir Walter Scott: Iconography of a Tour’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol.35, 1972, pp.359–85.

1974

Martin Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London 1974, p.126 cat.450.

1975

Luke Herrmann, Turner: Paintings, Watercolours, Prints & Drawings, London 1975, p.235.

1975

Joseph R. Goldyne, J.M.W. Turner: Works on Paper from American Collections, exhibition catalogue, University Art Museum, Berkeley, California 1975, p.120 under cat.28.

1979

Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.427, no.1071, no.1072, no.1074, p.428, no.1078, no.1079, no.1080, no.1081, no.1083, p.430, no.1092, no.1093, no.1099, p.433, no.1123.

1980

Gerald Finley, Landscapes of Memory: Turner as Illustrator to Scott, London 1980, pp.125, 245.

1982

Francesca Irwin, Andrew Wilton, Gerald Finley and others, Turner in Scotland, exhibition catalogue, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum 1982, p.51 under cat.66.

1989

Anne Lyles and Diane Perkins, Colour into Line: Turner and the Art of Engraving, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1989, p.73 under cat.73.

1996

David Hill, Turner in the North: A Tour through Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, the Scottish Borders, the Lake District, Lancashire and Lincolnshire in the Year 1797, New Haven and London 1996, pp.99, 200 note 36, note 48, note 50.

1999

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, pp.55 cat.26.

2001

Evelyn Joll, Martin Butlin and Luke Herrmann (eds.), The Oxford Companion to J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 2001, pp.[1], 282–3.

2006

Andrew Wilton, Turner in his Time, revised ed., London 2006, p.239.

The Abbotsford sketchbook was used by Turner between 5 and 15 August 1831 while he was staying at Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, and during his journey from there to Edinburgh via Berwick-upon-Tweed. From 5–9 August, Turner took a number of day trips from Abbotsford to the surrounding country accompanied by Sir Walter Scott and his publisher Robert Cadell. On the 9th he left for Berwick-upon-Tweed, travelling via Jedburgh and Kelso. There he parted company with Cadell and made his own way to Edinburgh via Dunbar and Haddington.

Arriving at Edinburgh he finished with the Abbotsford sketchbook, except for a sketch of Craigmillar Castle (see folio 23; D25968; CCLXVII 23). During this time Turner also used the Berwick Sketchbook (1831).

The ‘Abbotsford Diary’ of Robert Cadell records Turner’s movements during this period, except for his journey from Berwick to Edinburgh, 11–13 August, and Cadell even wrote about Turner making particular sketches so it is possible to link certain sketches to diary entries.1 Gerald Finley has studied the Cadell papers including the diary and his letters to Scott, and some of the relevant pages are transcribed in an article by him.2 There is further useful study and analysis in Finley’s book.3

The purpose of Turner’s visit to Scotland in 1831 was to make sketches of various views to be illustrated for a new edition of Scott’s Poetical Works (see Tour of Scotland for Scott’s Poetical Works 1831 Tour Introduction). Turner, Scott and Cadell had a meeting about the project on the morning of 5 August where they discussed the subjects to be illustrated for each volume, and Turner wrote some of these down in the front of this sketchbook (Inside front cover; D40995). Ten of the Poetry illustrations are based on sketches in this book. (See the Tour Introduction for a full list of illustrations).

The Abbotsford sketchbook also contains sketches of Rhymer’s Glen (see folio 4 verso; D25934) and Craigmillar Castle, which were both subjects that Turner was later commissioned to illustrate for an edition of Scott’s Prose Works. Other subjects sketched in the book, but not illustrated for Scott, are Haddington Church, and Norham, Roxburgh, Innerwick, Yester and Hailes Castles.

Robert Cadell, ‘Abbotsford Diary’, National Gallery of Scotland, MS Acc. 5188, Box 1; partially transcribed in Finley, 1972, pp.359–385.

Finley 1972, pp.359–385.

Finley 1980.

Technical notes

Peter Bowers has identified this sketchbook as one of a group of ‘off the shelf’ sketchbooks purchased together from one of Turner’s main stationers who also provided him with most of the sketchbooks used in Italy in 1819–20. It is uniform with the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border sketchbook (D25762–D25928; D41077–D41078 complete group; Turner Bequest CCLXVI).4

Finberg noted that the pages of the book, which was at one point broken up, were distributed mainly in three packets: ‘271. Scotland First and Second Packets’ and ‘271. Scotland. Inferior leaves.’ He did not list the contents of the first two packets, but lists the third as containing folios 1–6, 11, 13, 16, 18, 21, 22, 26, 29, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 50, 52, 53, 54, 58, 62, 65, 68, 73–75, 86, 87, 89 (CCLXVII 1–6, 11, 13, 16, 18, 21, 22, 26, 29, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 50, 52, 53, 56, 60, 64, 66, 67, 70, 75–77, 88, 89, 91; D25929–D25937, D25946, D25950, D25956, D25960, D25964, D25966, D25973, D25986, D25990, D25992, D25994, D25996, D26011, D26015, D26017, D26020, D26028, D26036, D26040, D26042, D26048, D26058–D26062, D26084, D26086, D26090) and an unnumbered page.5 This was the work of John Ruskin who labelled the recto of each page ‘271’ at the bottom right with its folio number at the top right.

CLXVII 54 and 55 were missing when Finberg wrote his inventory, and still are. This has caused the folio sequence to become out of synchronism with the Turner Bequest number after folio 53 verso (Tate D26018; Turner Bequest CLXVII 53a). Thereafter the folio numbers are two lower than the Turner Bequest numbers (e.g. folio 54; Tate D26018; Turner Bequest CCLXVII 56).

The sketchbook may have remained unbound for some years as a note in red pencil written in one copy of Finberg’s inventory (held in the Prints and Drawings Study Room at Tate Britain and dated 1914), reads ‘medium loose very slight’, suggesting that the pages may still have been unbound. Another copy, however, carries an inscription ‘seen 17–6–47 | Bound and Boxed’, showing that when it was inspected in 1947 the sketchbook was bound.

Bower 1999, pp.53 under cat.25, 55 cat.26.

Finberg 1909, II, p.857.

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Abbotsford sketchbook 1831’, sketchbook, September 2009, in Helena Bonett, Ysanne Holt, Jennifer Mundy (eds.), The Camden Town Group in Context, Tate Research Publication, May 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research/group/999999990?project=2, accessed 13 November 2024.

Galleries

The Camden Town Group in Context