Lot Essay
This rediscovered Welsh view has been identified as a page from Turner's Hereford Court Sketchbook (Tate Gallery, Turner Bequest XXXVIII), labelled by Turner '94. Lakes Hereford Court. Lakes, Malmesbury' and inscribed on the front cover 'South Wales/North Wales' (see A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, 1909, Vol.I, pp.83-9, and A. Wilton, Turner in Wales, exhibition catalogue, Llandudno, Mostyn Art Gallery, and Swansea, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum, July-November 1984, p.52). This sketchbook covers the whole of Turner's tour of Wales in the summer of 1798, together with visits to Malmesbury Abbey and Hampton Court, Hereford. He set off from his friends the Narraways at Bristol; according to Mr Narraway's niece, Ann Dart, 'My Uncle gave him a pony, and lent him a saddle, bridle and cloak, but these he never returned'. He left sometime during the summer and began in the south of Wales, travelling from Chepstow up the Wye and across to Brecon; south to Glamorgan, Cardiff and Ewenny; back north to Llandovey and down the Tywi to Cardigan and Llanstephen; then across the Pembroke peninsula to Cilgerran and north to Aberystwyth, Machynlleth and Dolgellau; finally, after thoroughly exploring Snowdonia, he returned through Denbigh, Llangollen and Ludlow, and seems to have been back in London by 26 September. Among other products of the tour were two Royal Academy exhibits in 1799, Cilgarren Castle and Harlech Castle from Twgwyn Ferry, Summer Evening's Twilight.
The Hereford Court Sketchbook contains a series of pencil drawings, often worked up in watercolour, some on the spot; in some cases these watercolours can be regarded as finished works fit for sale or exhibition. The present state of the sketchbook, as recorded by Finberg, shows that pages have been cut out. In several instances it is clear from the stubs that these were painted in watercolour; these pages were presumably, like this example, regarded as finished works in their own right.
The Hereford Court Sketchbook contains a series of pencil drawings, often worked up in watercolour, some on the spot; in some cases these watercolours can be regarded as finished works fit for sale or exhibition. The present state of the sketchbook, as recorded by Finberg, shows that pages have been cut out. In several instances it is clear from the stubs that these were painted in watercolour; these pages were presumably, like this example, regarded as finished works in their own right.