Bacharach on the Rhine, looking upstream, sunset, c.1832

Watercolour vignette on paper, sheet size 9 x 10 7/8 ins, 229 x 276 mm USA, New York, Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie. (864.1.217) Turner catalogues: Wilton1222; tdb1339 Vassar College, USA: http://emuseum.vassar.edu/internal/media/dispatcher/9947/resize:format=full This is a small, highly-finished watercolour vignette of boats moored by a town bristling with spires and towers. In the centre is a … Continue reading Bacharach on the Rhine, looking upstream, sunset, c.1832 →

Rediscovering Kilnsey

Readers might have wondered at the recent inactivity of Sublimesites.co. Old friends will know such lapses are not infrequent. But I have not been idle. In fact I have been rummaging in a box of transparencies dating back to 1983, and encountering my former self. The occasion of all this was a Turner watercolour that … Continue reading Rediscovering Kilnsey →

Colour beginning: Kilnsey Crag and Conistone Bridge, Upper Wharfedale Yorkshire. Called ‘A Bridge in Mist’; ‘White Bridge’, c.1825

Watercolour, 11 3/4 x 18 1/2 ins Private Collection Turner catalogues: not in Wilton; tdb1901 This is a good-sized watercolour study of a light-suffused river valley landscape. A long, many-arched bridge stretches across the composition in the mid-distance whilst a shallow river flows away in the lower right corner. Blue hills close the distance. Bridge … Continue reading Colour beginning: Kilnsey Crag and Conistone Bridge, Upper Wharfedale Yorkshire. Called ‘A Bridge in Mist’; ‘White Bridge’, c.1825 →

Smailholm Tower, Roxburghshire [Smailholme, Smallholm], c.1832

Watercolour vignette on paper, image 5 1/4 x 4 ins, in border 7 x 4 5/8 ins on sheet 8 3/4 x 7 1/2 ins, 223 x 191 mm Inscribed by Turner in watercolour, above subject; 'Border Minstrelsey/ Vol, ' and below; 'Smailholme Tower' Private Collection Turner catalogues: Wilton 1071; tdb1192 Scanned by DH from … Continue reading Smailholm Tower, Roxburghshire [Smailholme, Smallholm], c.1832 →

Skiddaw from the southern end of Derwentwater, c.1832

Watercolour on paper, 101 x 152 mm Untraced Turner Catalogues: Wilton 1090; tdb1210 Photograph by David Hill This is a small, highly-finished watercolour showing a lake and mountain. A string of cattle stands in the water in the foreground and the bank recedes at the right to the distant mountain. The watercolour is currently untraced … Continue reading Skiddaw from the southern end of Derwentwater, c.1832 →

Mayburgh, with Penrith Castle and Beacon [sometimes Mayborough or King Arthur’s Round Table], c.1832

Watercolour vignette on paper, 280 x 215 mm Private Collection Turner Catalogues: Wilton 1091; tdb1211 Image courtesy of Bonham's This is a small, highly-finished watercolour vignette showing a tree-circled clearing with, in the centre, a monolith with a tree apparently growing from it. In the distance left is the misty silhouette of a castle on … Continue reading Mayburgh, with Penrith Castle and Beacon [sometimes Mayborough or King Arthur’s Round Table], c.1832 →

Berwick upon Tweed, c.1832

Watercolour vignette on paper, 87 x 152 mm Private Collection Turner Catalogues: Wilton 1092; tdb1212 Image courtesy of Christie's This is a small, highly-finished watercolour showing an extensive landscape with a castle on a sunlit eminence centre left, overlooking a broad river and many-arched bridge to the right. A town with a tower and spire … Continue reading Berwick upon Tweed, c.1832 →

Abbotsford, c.1832

Watercolour vignette on paper, 115 x 147 mm Abbotsford, The Home of Sir Walter Scott Turner Catalogues: Wilton 1093; tdb1213 Image courtesy of the Art Fund This is a small, highly-finished watercolour vignette showing an extensive baronial house overlooking a river and backed by rounded hills. The time of day is evening and a crescent … Continue reading Abbotsford, c.1832 →

England and Wales Revisited: #35 Holy Island, Northumberland

This is the second instalment of a new series of articles in which I will revisit each of the 96 sites depicted by J.M.W.Turner in his series of engravings ‘Picturesque View in England and Wales’. These were published over a period of ten years between 1827 and 1837 but represent subjects drawn from his entire … Continue reading England and Wales Revisited: #35 Holy Island, Northumberland →

England and Wales Revisited: # 34 Alnwick Castle, Northumberland

J.T.Willmore after J.M.W.Turner R.A.Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1832Etching and engraving, image 164 x 233, on plate 246 x 302, printed in black ink on india paper, 241 x 298, bonded to backing sheet of heavyweight white wove paper, not watermarked 399 x 562 mmInscribed in neat script centred below image, ‘Engrvd by J.T.Willmore from a Drawing … Continue reading England and Wales Revisited: # 34 Alnwick Castle, Northumberland →