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Tewkesbury Abbey

Maker

(artist)
1775-1851

Title

Tewkesbury Abbey

Date of Production

1793

Medium

graphite on wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 20.3 cm
Width: 26.7 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.1136

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

flying buttresses

Label Text

The cult of the Picturesque – the making of landscape into an aesthetically pleasing picture – was at its height in the 1790s. Medieval buildings such as Tewkesbury Abbey, which Turner visited on his 1793 tour, were a favoured subject for artists and collectors. This drawing is a study for a watercolour (Private collection). Typically, Turner has lightly sketched the overall shape of the composition and decorative details, leaving certain areas, as on the belfry, largely untouched to indicate where the light should fall in the finished work. With an eye for an unusual composition, Turner has viewed the northeast side of the abbey from an oblique angle.

Provenance

friend of the artist, Charles Stokes (1784-1853); Thomas Hughes; by descent to his niece, Mrs F. Hughes, Reigate, Surrey; her sale, Sotheby's (London), 28 November 1922, lot 129; purchased there by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London); Palser Gallery (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d. (£5); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Paths to Fame - Turner's Watercolour Landscapes, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 30/10/2008-25/01/2009

Paths to Fame - Turner's Watercolour Landscapes, Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, England, 16/07/2008-12/10/2008

Literature

Paths to Fame: Turner Watercolours from The Courtauld Gallery, Wordsworth Trust; Courtauld Gallery, 2008-2009
no. 3
Fig. p. 43

Wilton, Andrew, The life and work of J.M.W. Turner, London, 1979
no. 63
Illus. pl. 19

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 52

Inscriptions

Inscription: Tewksbury [illegible word] Abbey

Collector's mark: collector's mark of Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b)

Inscription: 5

Inscription: 559

Inscription: 16407 / 4 //

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