Turner's Yorkshire

[leedslily]

Apparently there's a new trail marking places in Yorkshire that the artist Turner visited and painted - including, among others, Beeston Hill in Leeds:http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/ ... istsHere's the website for the trails:http://www.yorkshire.com/turner

[Riponian]

There was a Turner themed set of walks up Wensleydale last week on the Wensleydale Railway.

[Leeds Hippo]

Is there a site that shows prints of the 150 paintings he painted in Leedshttp://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Wel ... 4.jpRecall he painted the listed building near the stone bridge over the Leeds Liverpool canal at the bottom of the Leeds Bradford road though I can't locate a copy

[farbank]

Yes, he did 'Hippo'. I think he called it ' Amen Corner'. But it is actually further up Leeds & Bradford, than what we now call Amen Corner, at Armley Ridge Rd.He also painted the little ' private' bridge, that was built by Benjamin Gott, further down the canal towards Leeds. He built this as a short cut to Kirkstall Rd. Over the toll bridge, he also was responsible for, across the R.Aire.( The Ha'penny Bridge, and still there.). All this as easier    access to his mill at Bean Ings. Where the Yorks. Post building now stands.

[Leeds Hippo]

Leeds Hippo wrote: Is there a site that shows prints of the 150 paintings he painted in Leedshttp://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Wel ... 4.jpRecall he painted the listed building near the stone bridge over the Leeds Liverpool canal at the bottom of the Leeds Bradford road though I can't locate a copy Found it!Excellent article about it here on the excellent Kirstall forumhttp://www.kirkstall.org.uk/board/forum_posts.asp?TID=91    The information about the bridge is fascinating as well!From the articleby Lynne Greenwood of the Telegraph It was during his last visit to Yorkshire in 1824 that Turner captured the scene: a section of the Leeds-Liverpool canal beneath an arched bridge, a solid house prominent on its left bank, with the medieval Kirkstall Abbey visible in the background. The foreground of Kirkstall Lock, on the River Aire shows workers building Kirkstall Brewery, which once exported large quantities of beer to Australia but now houses students from Leeds Metropolitan University. It was only recently, when the Leeds architectural practice Carey Niemen chose the site for its new offices, that the Turner connection came to light. "We prepared a scheme which involved demolishing the buildings on the site," says Shayne Nieman, the director. "But when the planners told us the building was in a Turner painting, restoring it immediately became the number one priority." The house's recorded history is patchy. At some point in the 19th century, the building was certainly given a new fa?e, obscuring the gable end visible in Joseph Mallord William Turner's watercolour, which is in the Tate Britain's collection but not on display. And there is no doubt that in the immediate past it has stood empty, stripped of its roof, which had obvious consequences for the floors, ceilings, cornices, window frames and doors. Now the property is being transformed into three houses by the developer, Martin Erkulis. The sandstone fa?e will form the entrance to one of the homes. All of the three-bedroom properties will have gardens sloping down to the canal and uninterrupted views of Kirkstall Abbey, one of the best-preserved medieval Cistercian monasteries in the country. Apart from the unobtrusive railway line and a handful of rugby posts on the sports fields, the view from the house has changed little in the years since it caught theimagination of Britain's best-loved landscape artist. Although the house that Turner depicted has three storeys, Erkulis says there is no evidence that it ever had three floors above ground. "At one end of the property is a basement with a vaulted ceiling which will have a window looking out to the front," he says. "But whether Turner painted from sketches or used artistic licence, we don't know." David Hill, the Harewood Professor of Fine Art at Leeds University, has written extensively on Turner and believes the painting is "doubly significant". "We know Turner went to Kirkstall in November 1824, during his last visit to Yorkshire," he says. "He was almost 50, in mid-career, although most of his closest friends were dead. He was quite reflective and retrospective, numbering all his sketchbooks at that time, and returning to many of the viewpoints he had singled out on previous visits." The subject matter was unusual for Turner because it depicted "the modern world", he says. "Most of what he shows was newly completed - the Leeds-Liverpool canal in 1816 and the Leeds to Bradford turnpike road, which was only opened in 1824. The bridge was absolutely new and it was not like him to be interested in the contemporary world." The Georgian house itself is known as The Ellars - a place where elm trees grow - and probably belonged to an important figure connected to the malting and brewing operation, according to Professor Hill. He says that, in Turner's painting, Kirkstall Abbey represents the medieval way of life, and the canal and road the growing force of industry. "I'm delighted that 200 years on, the house which was then a part of the new world, is being restored and given a new life." The restoration is expected to be complete by the spring, when the Turner connection will be exploited to the full in the marketing. The expected guide price of the houses may well represent a coup for the developer    

[Leeds Hippo]

As an aside - I used to walk under this bridge on the way to school further up the hill in the picture (St Benedicts - now gone) - We use to jump off the bridge onto the ploughed field below - don't know how we never broke our legs it's such a high jump! From Google street view - showing the house coming down the road in the picturehttp://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=kirstall+leeds&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=36.536367,29.311523&ie=UTF8&hq=kirstall&hnear=Leeds,+United+Kingdom&ll=53.817819,-1.609875&spn=0,0.002806&z=19&layer=c&cbll=53.816921,-1.611276&panoid=xoZCCknEl150U2EmlG-Mcw&cbp=12,94.22,,0,14.64

[Si]

I think Turner used his sketches of Otley Chevin for the landscape of his Snowstorm With Hannibal Crossing The Alps painting.He used to stay with the Fawkes (yes relation) family at Farnley Hall across the valley when touring the north.    

[Si]

I've just discovered Ravey Davey's post on the Paintings of Leeds thread showing the Chevin painting. Apologies.Just outside Leeds' boundaries, but here's Turner's sketch of Farnley Hall. This could have been painted yesterday, so little has changed.

[Si]

This is his painting of the Washburn Valley, looking towards Otley Chevin.

[Leeds Hippo]

leedslily wrote: Apparently there's a new trail marking places in Yorkshire that the artist Turner visited and painted - including, among others, Beeston Hill in Leeds:http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/ ... istsHere's the website for the trails:http://www.yorkshire.com/turner Excellent reference book herehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Turner-Leeds-Industry- ... 147&sr=8-1