- 136
Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A. 1775-1851
Description
- Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A.
- Bowes Tower, Yorkshire
inscribed u.c.: Rokeby / Vol, further inscribed l.c.: Bowes Tower
- watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out, unframed
- 24.6 by 17.8 cm.; 9 3/4 by 7 in.
Provenance
Anonymous sale, Christie's London, 2 June 1939, lot 69;
with Agnews, London;
Sir Hugh Walpole;
E.P. Beresford-Jones
Exhibited
London, Leicester Galleries, Exhibition of the collection of the late Sir Hugh Walpole, April 1945, no. 60
ENGRAVED:
by Edward Webb for Sir Walter Scott's Poetical Works, 1833-4
Literature
P. G. Hamerton, Turner, engraving illustrated p.61 as 'Rowes Castle';
W.G. Rawlinson, The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., 1908-13, vol. II, no 510;
A. Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, 1979, no. 1087;
G. Finley, Landscapes of Memory, 1980, p. 93, 241-43;
J. Piggott, Turner's Vignettes, 1993, p. 53, 99 (engraving illustrated no. 84)
Catalogue Note
In 1831 Turner was approached by the Edinburgh based publisher Robert Cadell (1788-1849) to produce a group of watercolours, illustrating the new edition of Sir Walter Scott's Poetical Works. The present watercolour is one of 12 vignettes that Turner executed and it served as the title-vignette to the ninth volume of the publication.
As with the other vignettes in the series, in this watercolour, Turner focused on a medieval location, relevant to Scott's poetry. The studies for this watercolour were made in late July 1831 when Turner visited Walter Scott at Abbotsford. Turner sketched the nearby Barnard Castle and Bowes Castle in one day. Situated at the junction of the rivers Greta and Tees, Turner incorporates the two rivers in the scene. In the foreground there are boys with kites. In order to link the scene more closely with Scott's text, Turner includes, a knight holding a sword, with armour at his feet and a monk, wearing a habit, holding a book and beads. These figures bear no relation to the scale of the landscape vignette, but relate to characters in Scott's poem.
We learn from Cadell's letters that Sir Walter Scott was at first sceptical about commissioning Turner to illustrate his Poems. However he was persuaded by Cadell who wrote 'with Mr Turner's pencil I will ensure the sale of 8,000 [copies] of the poetry - without, not 3,000' (see J. Piggott, lit. op. cit, 1993, p.31). The publisher was proved correct and a contemporary critic described the series as being 'unequalled for beauty.' (see J. Piggott, lit. op. cit, 1993, p. 54).