British Drawings & Watercolours

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Lot 366
  • 366

Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A. 1775-1851

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Description

  • Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A.
  • East Malling Abbey, Kent

  • inscribed with artist's notes and signed verso: East Malling Abbey/ Kent/ J.M.W. Turner RA Delt  

  • pen and black ink with watercolour over pencil

Provenance

Pierre Jeannerat sale in these Rooms, 15 March 1984, lot 41;
Anonymous sale, Christie's, 7th November 1995, Lot 15;
Private Collection 

Catalogue Note

East Malling is located in Kent, just under twelve miles from the city of Rochester. An abbey has existed on the site since Norman times, and it was reputedly Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester (1077-1108) who founded the monastery towards the end of the twelfth century.

The present drawing dates from 1793, the year Turner completed a number of other watercolours of Kent. It is an interesting example of eighteen year old Turner's restrained and precise early work, (see A. Wilton, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, 1979, pp. 303-4, pls. 31-35).