Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A.

Sale, London, Christie’s, 29 April 1869, lot 140, bt. Agnew’s;
with Agnew’s, London;
Murrieta;
sale, London, Christie’s, 2 May 1892, lot 311, bt. Leggett;
Sir Donald Currie, Bt. (1825-1909);
with Agnew's, London;
by whom sold to Miss Mabel Deakin (1892-1977), 1937;
by descent to the present owners

Engraved:

by William Miller (1836-1877), 1834, for Cadell's addition of Scott’s Prose Works, 1834

On loan to Gloucester Museum and Art Gallery (1980-2016)

W. Thornbury, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, RA, London 1862, vol. I, p. 194;
M. Omer, Turner. Die Landschaften der Bibel, Bayreuth 1985, pp.74-5;
A. Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, p. 430, no. 1100

In this exquisitely drawn watercolour Turner looks across the Kidron valley to the ancient city of Jerusalem. The skyline is punctuated with the key monuments and the Dome of the Rock, the Dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and parts of the walls of the Temple Mount are all clearly visible. In the foreground, a Christ-like figure stands on the hill-side, while two men appear to kneel down before him. Far below, in the shady valley, it is just possible to distinguish the Tomb of Absalom.¹

This watercolour was painted in circa 1833 for Sir Walter Scott’s publisher Robert Cadell. In 1831, following the success of Turner’s engraved illustrations to Scott’s Poetical Works, Cadell decided on a new edition of the author’s Prose Works. Over a period of five years, Turner painted around forty small landscapes, many of which were used as frontispieces or title-pages to the twenty-eight volumes which, in turn, were published in monthly instalments. The present work was engraved in 1834 by William Millar and appeared as the frontispiece to volume four: Essays on Chivalry, Romance and Drama.

Although Turner never travelled to the Holy Land, relying instead on the drawings of others who had, for example the architect Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860), such was his mastery of the medium of watercolour that he was able to create his own scene full of light, atmosphere and space. Indeed, John Ruskin commented ‘of one thing I am certain, Turner never drew anything that could be seen, without having seen it. That is to say that though he would draw Jerusalem from someone’s sketch, it would be, nevertheless, entirely his own experience of ruined walls.’² Turner painted six other watercolour views of Jerusalem, each depicting the city from different viewpoints. Three of these are in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, one is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, while two more remain in private collections.

This watercolour has a distinguished provenance and was once owned by Sir Donald Currie, whose collection of works by Turner is legendary. It is recorded that he owned no fewer than fifty-seven watercolours and fourteen oil paintings. In December 1937 Jerusalem was acquired by the sculptress, Mabel Deakin, whose collection already included Knaresborough (see lot 358) and the Rigi at Dawn (see lot 360). Each of these works have remained in the possession of her descendants until today. We would like to thank Ian Warrell for his help when cataloguing this work. 

<sup>1. A. Wilton, op.cit., p. 450, no. 1256
2. Ed. E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn, The Works of John Ruskin, 1903-13, I, pl. VIII</sup>