Royal Academy Exhibitions 1790 to 1794; JMW Turner's Exhibits
Chapter V: Study of the Context in which 'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' was exhibited in 1793: To Identify and Compare the Exhibits
Royal Academy Exhibitions 1790 to 1794; JMW Turner's Exhibits
Chapter V: Study of the Context in which 'The rising
squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' was exhibited in
1793: To Identify and Compare the Exhibits
Study of the Context in which
'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' was
exhibited in 1793
To examine images of the exhibits and their respective precursor
sketches or drawings
To Identify and Compare the Exhibits
DRAFT: Construction of this page is ongoing but you are welcome to comment on features presently included
1. Objective
The purpose of this chapter is to show how our picture 'Squall at St Vincent's Rock, Bristol' fits into JMW Turner's work from his first exhibit up to and including the 1794 exhibition in support of it's claim to be 'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol'.
2. Method
For each exhibited title we have attempted to identify its current whereabouts and provenance. We have looked at JMW Turner's intentions or plans for his exhibits particularly where 'original' plans were disrupted by the fire at the Pantheon and by the intervention of Rev. James Douglas at Rochester in respect of oil painting on canvas.[Royal Academy Exhibition Lists]
We have obtained, where possible, images of the best candidates and displayed them to scale (at one pixel per mm) and observed and commented on their relative sizes and looked for emerging patterns of modus operandi. These images are intended to show relative sizes and differences between precursors and finished exhibition pieces. These images are not intended to be attractive representations of JMW Turner's artworks; those can be found on their source websites.
Each statement in respect of this study is rated:
3. Images and Comments
3a. List with links to data sheets
1790
View
Of The Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth Signature: None
(Indianapolis)
1791
King John's
palace, Eltham Lost (Sir W R Drake)(1891
Hooper)
Sweakley,
near Uxbridge, the seat of the Rev. Mr. Clarke Lost
1792
Malmsbury Abbey
The
Pantheon, The Morning After The Fire Signature: 'W Turner Del'
lower left
1793
View
on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol represented by
The Bristol
Watercolour K816, 'Avon Gorge and Bristol Hotwell'
Gate of St.
Augustine's monastery, Canterbury Signature: 'W Turner' lower
right (Sir W Tite)(1874 Durlacher)
1794
Second fall of the Monach, Devil's Bridge, Cardiganshire
Porch
Of Great Malvern Abbey, Worcestershire
Christ Church Gate, Canterbury
Inside Of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire
St. Anselm's chapel, with part of Thomas a-Becket's crown,
Canterbury Cathedral
3b. Thumbnail List: (thumbnail images to scale 1 pixel
represents 5mm)
Works
prior
to RA exhibition appear to demonstrate Turner's preference for
'display' work to be larger and signed.
1790 
...............
..........
...View
Of The Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth
1791 ...............King
John's palace, Eltham
1791
..............Sweakley, near Uxbridge, the seat of the Rev. Mr. Clarke
1792 
................
.................
...Malmesbury
Abbey
1792 
..........The
Patheon, the morning after the fire
1793
................
1793 
............
1793 
............
................
1794 Second fall of the Monach, Devil's Bridge, Cardiganshire 3
1794 
Porch
Of Great Malvern Abbey, Worcestershire
1794 Christ Church Gate, Canterbury
1794 Inside Of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire
1794 St. Anselm's chapel, with part of Thomas a-Becket's crown, Canterbury Cathedral
3c. Full List with comments:
Images of View Of The Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth
...
Every source of information states that this unsigned 10½"x
15" painting is the exhibit. However, some earlier
watercolour-drawings in the Turner Bequest were larger and signed. We
question whether Turner would have submitted a smaller, unsigned, work as
his first exhibit, an important event for him. He called his painting
'View Of The Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth' and whilst undoubtedly the
palace is in the background this painting is primarily one of another
building that is probably the Inn mentioned in C.F.Bell and Armstrong. [Turner
Bequest display works before 1790]
Images for King John's
palace, Eltham
Note that a later painting (named by Turner) included the word
'Inside'; 1794 'Inside Of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire'. This does not.
Images for
Sweakley,
near Uxbridge, the seat of the Rev. Mr. Clarke
The only evidence for the existance of this painting is the 1791 RA
Exhibition Catalogue.
Images of Malmsbury Abbey
...
Images of The Pantheon, The Morning After The Fire
Images for
View
on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol represented by
The Bristol
Watercolour K816, 'Avon Gorge and Bristol Hotwell'
The smaller version was given to the Narraways in 1791. The larger
version possibly unfinished in 1791 is our best idea of a candidate for
this exhibit. It was probable that Turner intended this as a 1792 exhibit
but the Pantheon fire intervened and he exhibited Pantheon instead. 'View
on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' if not already
completed could have been finished just after the opening of the 1792
exhibition before Turner's ('first') Kent tour in 1792
Note the 'duality' feature. The exhibit preceded by a smaller near
identical painting in this and in 'Gate of St. Augustine's monastery,
Canterbury'.
...
Images of Gate
of St. Augustine's monastery, Canterbury
On the left is the most likely exhibit (Yale/Mellon B1975.4.1964)
To be finished for the 1793 exhibition this exhibit must have been
painted before Turner's diversion into oils and we would suggest on the
outward journey of his ('first') Kent tour in 1792 [see
events listed (in relation to canvas)]
Note the 'duality' feature. A smaller near identical painting in this
and 'View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol'
...
Images for 'The rising squall,
hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' represented by
Squall at St. Vincent's
Rock, Bristol
Here we display 'Squall at St. Vincent's Rock, Bristol'. If the
duality feature continued there is likely to be a small panel painted at
around the same time. One such panel (possibly) Duke Of St Alban's sale.
As precursors to 'Squall at St. Vincent's Rock, Bristol' we display D00389
where the identical rock complex, reversed, is clearly observed and D00391
where the dome rock appears alone.
......
Images for Second fall of the Monach, Devil's Bridge, Cardiganshire
No images have been located.
Image for
Porch Of
Great Malvern Abbey, Worcestershire
This is the Mrs Worthington watercolour in the Whitworth Art Gallery.
We have not yet located Mrs Ashton's watercolour but the size difference
is negligable. This picture is signed 'W Turner' but that is not recorded
in Armstrong
page 265. Armstrong dates Mrs. Worthington's watercolour to 1797 and
Mrs Ashton's to 1795 but suggests that Ashton is the 1794 exhibit.
Whitworth seem fairly confident that theirs (Worthington) is the exhibit.
As the purpose here is just comparative sizes and signing the only issue
would be if neither watercolour was the exhibit. This note will be updated
if any further information comes to light.
Images for Christ Church Gate, Canterbury
No Images have been located
Images for Inside Of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire
No Images have been located
Images for St. Anselm's chapel, with part of Thomas a-Becket's
crown, Canterbury Cathedral
No Images have been located