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Lot Essay
This recently rediscovered drawing was first published by Andrew Wilton in 2006, loc. cit. It is an early work by the artist and relates to a group of drawings inspired by the works of Phillip James de Loutherbourg (1740-1812). The subject matter of this group is largely coastal scenes with craggy rocks, stormy seascapes or distant mountains bathed in delicate light. They are imaginative rather than descriptive and reflect the influence of Turner’s first visit to South Wales in 1792; other works from this series are in the Turner Bequest, Tate Britain (TB XXIII, Q, R, and V; see A. Wilton, Turner in Wales, exh. cat., Mostyn Art Gallery, Llandudno, July – September 1984, pp. 7-9, 39, nos. 12-14, no. 14, ill.).
Turner’s first trip to Wales began in the summer of 1792. He set out from Bristol, crossed the mouth of the River Avon, journeying up the River Usk north to Llanthony in the Black Mountains, then via Hereford, along the course of the River Wye as far as the Devil’s Bridge, before returning back along the Wye Valley. It was during the winter following this trip that a stylistic development in his work became apparent, visible in the present drawing and those in the Turner Bequest referenced above. These works reflect the influence on the young artist of the pictures of de Loutherbourg, who came to London in 1771 and visited Wales in 1786. He exhibited three views of Snowdonia at the Royal Academy in 1787. Up to this point the influences on Turner had been largely that of the topographers: Thomas Sandby, Thomas Malton, Thomas Hearne and Edward Dayes, but Turner’s assimilation of the dramatic and romantic aspects of de Loutherbourg’s works shows his desire to move away from this purely topographical style to capture the atmosphere of a place. An early example of how successfully he grasped these ideas can be seen in his dramatic depiction of Llanthony Abbey (British Museum), based on a pencil sketch executed on the 1792 Welsh tour.
It is significant that even later on, probably at the Thomas Monro sale of 27 June 1833, lot 111, Turner bought a group of Welsh and Shropshire views on card by de Loutherbourg (A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London, 1909, II, pp. 1223-6, nos. TB CCCLXII, 1-53).
It is also significant that Turner thought enough of this drawing to consider it fit for sale, probably adding his signature, absent from the similar works in the Turner Bequest, at the time of its sale. The form of signature suggests a date before 1802 when Turner became a full member of the Royal Academy and began to sign with his full initials ‘J.M.W. Turner’, rather than with the three initials stacked on top of one another, as here.
We are grateful to Martin Butlin for his help in preparing the present catalogue entry.
Turner’s first trip to Wales began in the summer of 1792. He set out from Bristol, crossed the mouth of the River Avon, journeying up the River Usk north to Llanthony in the Black Mountains, then via Hereford, along the course of the River Wye as far as the Devil’s Bridge, before returning back along the Wye Valley. It was during the winter following this trip that a stylistic development in his work became apparent, visible in the present drawing and those in the Turner Bequest referenced above. These works reflect the influence on the young artist of the pictures of de Loutherbourg, who came to London in 1771 and visited Wales in 1786. He exhibited three views of Snowdonia at the Royal Academy in 1787. Up to this point the influences on Turner had been largely that of the topographers: Thomas Sandby, Thomas Malton, Thomas Hearne and Edward Dayes, but Turner’s assimilation of the dramatic and romantic aspects of de Loutherbourg’s works shows his desire to move away from this purely topographical style to capture the atmosphere of a place. An early example of how successfully he grasped these ideas can be seen in his dramatic depiction of Llanthony Abbey (British Museum), based on a pencil sketch executed on the 1792 Welsh tour.
It is significant that even later on, probably at the Thomas Monro sale of 27 June 1833, lot 111, Turner bought a group of Welsh and Shropshire views on card by de Loutherbourg (A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London, 1909, II, pp. 1223-6, nos. TB CCCLXII, 1-53).
It is also significant that Turner thought enough of this drawing to consider it fit for sale, probably adding his signature, absent from the similar works in the Turner Bequest, at the time of its sale. The form of signature suggests a date before 1802 when Turner became a full member of the Royal Academy and began to sign with his full initials ‘J.M.W. Turner’, rather than with the three initials stacked on top of one another, as here.
We are grateful to Martin Butlin for his help in preparing the present catalogue entry.