Watercolor, scraping out, and pen and black ink on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 11 1/2 x 17 inches (29.2 x 43.2 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.2704
Gallery Label:
This complex panorama presents a compelling image of the growing industrial town of Leeds, in the northern English county of Yorkshire. A center of the wool trade, it also became notable for the diversity of its enterprises, which included banking, printing, construction, and the law. Many of these activities are showcased here: textile workers hang out newly woven and washed cloth to dry; masons mend a wall; a milk-boy and his pony return from their daily delivery. Behind them, smoke from new factories and houses mingles with the morning mist, surrounding but not subordinating the town’s churches. Turner shows faith and industry coexisting within a space that is the inevitable — and welcome — product of a new technological age. Gallery label for J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality (Yale Center for British Art, March - 29, 2025 - July 27, 2025)
