1905 Wyllie

DRAFT

Wyllie copied information from Thornbury. On page 14 line 1, Wyllie recognises that "there must have been some mistake" [in Thornbury's account]. However, Wyllie does not attempt to identify the mistake. Instead, he adds subtle embelishments, such as, on line 2, "Turner painted in oil some time before", which actually add confusion to Thornbury's muddled account. (Note: Thornbury took this information from Adhurst who had read it from an Edward Bell manuscript. Somewhere along this route the year 1795 had been adopted for the introduction of Edward Bell and JMW Turner. We have examined Edward Bell's handwriting and find it clear, neat and tidy and thus unlikely to be misread. He might have been recalling earlier events and written 1795 instead of 1793. We have several pieces of evidence which place the meeting just after or possibly during the 1793 RA Exhibition)

Wyllie copied flawed information from C.F.Bell. Based on Bell's mistaken information, Wyllie discusses the two 1793 'St. Vincent's Rock' works on page 18:

• He describes the three 1793 works as 'drawings'
• He misquotes the titles which C.F.Bell had quoted correctly:
  • Wyllie renamed 'View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' as:
    'A view on the Avon, Bristol'
  • Wyllie renamed 'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' as
    'The Rising Squall; and Hot Wells, from St. Vincent's Rock'
    which makes it appear that 'Hot Wells' is part of the scene.

The reason why this is so bad is that Finberg took much of Wyllie's account to be established fact.

1905 Wyllie 'JMW Turner'. With reference to the 1793 exhibits and their predecessors, this book is a repeat of the erroneous CF Bell interpretation mixed up with Thornbury's muddled account of the first oils. - Wyllie helped the erroneous CF Bell interpretation to become established. He confirms (wrongly) that 'The Rising Squall; and Hot Wells, from St. Vincent's Rock' (and misquotes the title) was a watercolour-drawing and repeats CF Bell's erroneous statement that the Turner Anti-Room exhibit was also a watercolour-drawing.

On page 18 Wyllie lists the three 1793 exhibits as 'drawings' and includes 'The Rising Squall; and Hot Wells, from St. Vincent's Rock' but misquotes the title to make it appear that Hot Wells is part of the scene. He describes the 'ante-room' exhibit as 'A View on the Avon, Bristol'. This repeats CF Bell's erroneous conclusion.

On pages 13 and 14 Wyllie notes 'some mistake' in the accounts of the 'first oils'. (The 'mistake' is Thornbury's date (1795) of Edward Bell's introduction to JMW Turner - but Wyllie leaves this point open.)

It can be seen from the two clips [arrow 4] that Wyllie has relied on CF Bell.

Note that the two 'Bells' mentioned here are different people; 'Edward Bell', Turner's friend and 'CF Bell', the author.

• All three 1793 exhibits are described as 'drawings'. The concept of Turner's first Oil exhibit being 1793 has been eliminated.

[_NEXT_]
09_00

@@@@@