JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER, R.A. | GLEDHOW HALL, YORKSHIRE

John Dixon (1753-1825) of Gledhow Hall, Yorkshire and Weeting Hall, Suffolk;

The Hon. Emily Kitson (b. 1866) daughter of John, 1^st Baron Airedale of Gledhow,

by family descent until,

sale, London, Sotheby's, 20 March 1963, lot 86;

with Agnew's, London;

British Private Collection;

sale, London, Sotheby's, 9 July, 2009, lot 126 'Property of a gentleman of title';

where aquired by the present owner

Sir W. Armstrong, Turner, London, 1902, p. 255;

W. G. Rawlinson, The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner R. A., London, 1908, vol. 1, p. 43, no. 87;

A. Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg, 1979, p. 543, no. 543;

E. Shanes, Turner's England 1810-38, London, 1990, p. 77, no. 53

ENGRAVED:

by George Cooke for Whitaker's Loidis and Elmete, 1816-20 (R. 87)

York, York City Art Gallery, Turner in Yorkshire, 1980, cat. no. 113 (illustrated p. 76)

This idyllic watercolour depicts Gledhow Hall, near Leeds in Yorkshire, the seat of the Dixon family. It was commissioned by John Dixon in 1816. He was the eldest son of Jeremiah Dixon (1726-1782) and Mary (1735-1807) daughter of the Reverend Henry Wickham, rector of Guisley in Yorkshire. Gledhow was purchased by John's father in 1764.  Turner was to spend a great deal of time in Yorkshire, largely due to his close friendship with Walter Fawkes. Between 1808 and 1825 Turner was invited every summer to stay with the Fawkes family at Farnley Hall. From there the artist explored the county, visiting Gledhow in 1815. The present work is based on three drawings that survive in the Devonshire Rivers No. 3 and Wharfedale sketchbook (Turner Bequest CXXXIV 12, 15, 58).

Gledhow Hall is painted from the south-east, positioned high on the hill surrounded by glorious rolling parkland. This watercolour captures a moment as the sun rises bathing the landscape with a golden glow whilst dark shadows beneath the trees and in the foreground emphasise the intensity of the light. With a masterly display of delicate scratching out, Turner shows a fine mist rising from a stream in the valley below within which figures gather firewood and a herdsman drives his cattle beyond.

This watercolour was engraved by George Cook and included along with four other engravings after Turner in Dr Thomas Dunham Whitaker's book on the History of Leeds, published in 1816 under the title of Liodis and Elmete.