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Tom Tower, Christ Church, Oxford

Maker

(artist)
1775-1851

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1793

Medium

graphite and watercolour with a touch of scraping, framed on three sides in grey ink (loss of some of the upper edge) on wove paper, now laid down on Japanese tissue

Dimensions

Height: 31.9 cm
Width: 25.1 cm

Accession Number

D.2007.DS.43

Mode of Acquisition

Dorothy Scharf, bequest, 2007 (March)

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Oxford, with its multitude of ancient buildings, provided a regular source of marketable subject matter for Turner between 1787 and 1805. His mastery at handling the texture of stonework is evident in this watercolour – a textbook example of his recently learnt ‘scale practice’. Over a pale wash, patches of colour have been built up, layer by layer, in gradually darkening tones. The heavier foreground shading accentuates the luminosity of Christopher Wren’s elegant Gothic tower, the height of which Turner has exaggerated.

Provenance

private collector; purchased from them by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London), 1976; purchased there by Mrs Josephine Scharf (1914-2004), 1977; by descent to Miss Dorothy Scharf, London (1942-2004); Scharf Bequest 2007

Exhibition History

Creative Paths, Gaias Centre Museum, Santiago de Compostela, 09/11/2022-09/04/2023

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 ...More

104th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 17/01/1977-18/02/1977 ...Less

Literature

Paths to Fame: Turner Watercolours from The Courtauld Gallery, Wordsworth Trust; Courtauld Gallery, 2008-2009
no. 2
ill. on p. 39

Shanes, Eric, Turner: the life and masterworks, London, 2004
p. 60

Harrison, Colin, Turner's Oxford, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 2000
p. 45 ...More

Wilton, Andrew, The life and work of J.M.W. Turner, London, 1979
no. 38
ill. ...Less

Inscriptions

Inscription: WTurner

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