Oil paint on canvas
Berkshire
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner Bequest
Oil paintings
Collection
Turner owned by Tate
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner-558" aria-label="More by Joseph Mallord William Turner" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Mallord William Turner</a>
Ploughing Up Turnips near Slough Windsor
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
adults
agriculture and fishing
animals: mammals
architecture
Berkshire
castle
cow
England
England, South East
England, Southern
farm labourer
farmland
figure
food and drink
government and politics
history
landscape
military
military
Napoleonic Wars, 1796-1815
objects
patriotism
people
places
ploughing
Slough
society
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
vegetable - non-specific
Windsor, Windsor Castle
work and occupations
<p>This painting shows Windsor Castle and Eton College rising above the Thames Valley. The historic castle and school contrast with the farming activities happening in their shadow. The winter harvesting of turnips had become essential to modern, large-scale, capitalistic farming. Turner combines an Arcadian landscape (an imagined, ancient, simple and natural setting), with the difficult reality of agricultural labour. Details such as the nursing mother, men attending a broken plough and woman bent double to grub up the turnip roots suggest Turner’s sympathy with the labourers.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2023</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
19 August 2009 – 27 July 2010
2010-07-27
19 August 2009 – 27 July 2010
2010-07-27
2009-08-19
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-08-19
Landscape and Nation: Turner's Britain
Collection based display
4 August 2010 – 9 April 2012
2012-04-09
4 August 2010 – 9 April 2012
2012-04-09
2010-08-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-08-04
Early Turner
Collection based display
14 April 2012 – 8 March 2020
2020-03-08
14 April 2012 – 8 March 2020
2020-03-08
2012-04-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-04-14
Turner as a British Artist
Collection based display
28 October 2020 – 10 July 2022
2022-07-10
28 October 2020 – 12 September 2021
2021-09-12
2020-10-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
17 October 2021 – 6 February 2022
2022-02-06
2021-10-17
Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, USA)
http://www.kimbellart.org
27 March 2022 – 10 July 2022
2022-07-10
2022-03-27
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, USA)
http://www.mfa.org
2020-10-28
Turner's Modern World
Exhibition
17 October 2021 – 10 July 2022
2022-07-10
17 October 2021 – 6 February 2022
2022-02-06
2021-10-17
Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, USA)
http://www.kimbellart.org
27 March 2022 – 10 July 2022
2022-07-10
2022-03-27
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, USA)
http://www.mfa.org
2021-10-17
Turner's Modern World
Loan-out
13 March 2023
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-03-13
Gallery 101
Collection based display
Ploughing Up Turnips, near Slough (‘Windsor’)
support: 1019 × 1302 mm
frame: 1435 × 1721 × 179 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the <a href="/search?gid=999999781" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Turner Bequest</a> 1856
<div class="text">
<p>This painting shows Windsor Castle and Eton College rising above the Thames Valley. The historic castle and school contrast with the farming activities happening in their shadow. The winter harvesting of turnips had become essential to modern, large-scale, capitalistic farming. Turner combines an Arcadian landscape (an imagined, ancient, simple and natural setting), with the difficult reality of agricultural labour. Details such as the nursing mother, men attending a broken plough and woman bent double to grub up the turnip roots suggest Turner’s sympathy with the labourers.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2023-10-25T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>89. </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-ploughing-up-turnips-near-slough-windsor-n00486" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00486</span></a>] <b>Ploughing up Turnips, near Slough</b> Exh. 1809
<br/>
<br/>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (486)
<br/>Canvas, 40 1/8 × 51 1/4 (102 × 130)
<br/><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (71, ‘Windsor’ 4'3 1/2" × 3'4 1/2"'); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1919.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> Turner's gallery 1809 (9); Tate Gallery 1931 (44); Paris 1972 (260, repr.); Lisbon 1973 (4, repr. in colour); R.A. 1974–5 (156); Leningrad and Moscow 1975–6 (15); Mexico City (1, repr., p. 17) and Caracas (1) 1979; Athens 1980 (72, repr. in colour); Paris 1983–4 (21, repr.).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Thornbury 1862, i, p. 294; Armstrong 1902, p. 237; Finberg 1910, pp. 63–8; Davies 1946, p. 187; Finberg 1961, pp. 156, 171, 471 no. 136, pl. 13; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 26, pl. 41; Gage 1969, p. 89; Reynolds 1969, p. 106, pl. 49; Wilton 1979, pp. 121, 124, 157, colour pl. 115.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Formerly known as ‘Windsor’: the Castle is prominent in the background. The present title is that used in the catalogue of the 1809 exhibition in Turner's gallery. There are several related <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> in the sketchbook labelled by Turner ‘46, Windsor, Eaton’, XCVII; this is dated c. 1807 by Finberg (1909, i, p. 251) and 1806 by Gage (exhibition catalogue, Paris 1972); see also No. 57 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-goddess-of-discord-choosing-the-apple-of-contention-in-the-garden-of-the-n00477" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00477</span></a>]. Page 2 shows the same general view, while there are also related sketches of cows, particularly on pp. 22, 87 and 89, and similar but not identical human figures particularly on pp. 27, 81 <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/recto-verso" title="Glossary definition for 'Recto / Verso'"><span>verso</span></a> and 82 verso. The unusual size of the picture is shared by No. 107 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-abingdon-n00485" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00485</span></a>].
<br/>
<br/>This picture was priced at £200 in a note, probably of <i>c.</i> 1810, in Turner's ‘Finance’ sketchbook (CXXII-36; for the date see Nos. 53 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-narcissus-and-echo-t03869" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T03869</span></a>] and 56 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-destruction-of-sodom-n00474" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00474</span></a>]). As Evelyn Joll points out (exh. cat., Paris 1983–4) this was Turner's usual price for his standard 36 × 48 in. picture.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults agriculture and fishing animals: mammals architecture Berkshire castle cow England England, South East England, Southern farm labourer farmland figure food and drink government and politics history landscape military military Napoleonic Wars, 1796-1815 objects patriotism people places ploughing Slough society UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions vegetable - non-specific Windsor, Windsor Castle work and occupations