DOI Heft:
No. 228 (March 1912)
DOI Artikel:Finberg, Alexander Joseph: Turner at Farnley Hall
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21156#0109
Turner at Farnley Hall
Turner at farnley hall.
BY ALEXANDER J. FINBERG.
Farnley Hall stands on a slope on the
north side of the River Wharfe, about half-way
between Harewood Castle and Ilkley. It com-
mands a number of magnificent views of the
beautiful valley of the Wharfe. Standing on the
terrace in front of the house one can see down
below the swift-running, eddying river hurrying
over its stony bed. To the left, in the distance,
above the tall elms in the park, the rocky shoulders
of Great Alms Cliff may be seen. On the right,
about two miles away, one can just catch glimpses
of the chimneys and roofs of Otley. Behind and
above the house loom the Farnley moors and
quarries. Across the gleaming waters of the
Wharfe stretches the wild craggy sweep of the over-
hanging hill called the Otley Chevin. A hundred
years ago the deer wandered among the shadows
of the spruce firs that crown its heights, but they
have all disappeared now that the new road from
Leeds to Ilkley has been made.
When Turner first went to Yorkshire in 1797,
Farnley Hall belonged to Mr. Walter Ramsden
Fawkes, a close personal friend and political
associate of Sir Francis Burdett, the most popular
and effective Radical orator of his time. Burdett
had then just been elected member of Parliament
for Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, amid scenes of
great excitement. Mr. Fawkes, like his friend,
was an enthusiastic advocate of Parliamentary re-
form, Catholic emancipation, freedom of speech,
prison reform, and other liberal measures. He
was elected member for the County of York in
1806, and High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1823. But
his political activities did not prevent him from
taking a keen interest in the Fine Arts. He became
one of Turner’s early patrons and friends. From
about 1810 till Mr. Fawkes’s death in 1825, Turner
paid frequent visits to Farnley Hall, and made it a
sort of headquarters from which his sketching tours
in Yorkshire were conducted.
Mr. Fawkes not only made Turner an ever
welcome guest both at Farnley and at his house in
London, he also overwhelmed him with com-
“ THE ELIZABETHAN PART OF FARNLEY HALL.” FROM A WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BY J. M. W. TURNER, R.A.
(Farnley Hall Collection)
LV. No, 328.—March 1912,
89
Turner at farnley hall.
BY ALEXANDER J. FINBERG.
Farnley Hall stands on a slope on the
north side of the River Wharfe, about half-way
between Harewood Castle and Ilkley. It com-
mands a number of magnificent views of the
beautiful valley of the Wharfe. Standing on the
terrace in front of the house one can see down
below the swift-running, eddying river hurrying
over its stony bed. To the left, in the distance,
above the tall elms in the park, the rocky shoulders
of Great Alms Cliff may be seen. On the right,
about two miles away, one can just catch glimpses
of the chimneys and roofs of Otley. Behind and
above the house loom the Farnley moors and
quarries. Across the gleaming waters of the
Wharfe stretches the wild craggy sweep of the over-
hanging hill called the Otley Chevin. A hundred
years ago the deer wandered among the shadows
of the spruce firs that crown its heights, but they
have all disappeared now that the new road from
Leeds to Ilkley has been made.
When Turner first went to Yorkshire in 1797,
Farnley Hall belonged to Mr. Walter Ramsden
Fawkes, a close personal friend and political
associate of Sir Francis Burdett, the most popular
and effective Radical orator of his time. Burdett
had then just been elected member of Parliament
for Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, amid scenes of
great excitement. Mr. Fawkes, like his friend,
was an enthusiastic advocate of Parliamentary re-
form, Catholic emancipation, freedom of speech,
prison reform, and other liberal measures. He
was elected member for the County of York in
1806, and High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1823. But
his political activities did not prevent him from
taking a keen interest in the Fine Arts. He became
one of Turner’s early patrons and friends. From
about 1810 till Mr. Fawkes’s death in 1825, Turner
paid frequent visits to Farnley Hall, and made it a
sort of headquarters from which his sketching tours
in Yorkshire were conducted.
Mr. Fawkes not only made Turner an ever
welcome guest both at Farnley and at his house in
London, he also overwhelmed him with com-
“ THE ELIZABETHAN PART OF FARNLEY HALL.” FROM A WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BY J. M. W. TURNER, R.A.
(Farnley Hall Collection)
LV. No, 328.—March 1912,
89