'Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh

From Edinburgh Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CCLXVIII

Date 1834

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 111 x 181 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Reference

D26101

Turner Bequest CCLXVIII 4

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Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Edinburgh Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 4 Recto:

Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh 1834

D26101
Turner Bequest CCLXVIII 4

Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 181 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘7’ centre right
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘4’ bottom left descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVIII – 4’ bottom left descending vertically

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

This sketch depicts the east end of Edinburgh’s Holyrood Abbey with the impressive tracery of the large east window. To the right is the northern wall of the building, with its ‘7’ buttresses and the tower at the north-west corner. There are studies of the abbey from the other side on folio 3 verso (D26100), where Turner also drew Holyrood Palace. These sketches were probably made on 1 October when Turner is reported to have sketched other sites nearby.1

There are light brown stains across the right of this page.

Thomas Ardill
January 2011

Robert Cadell, Diary 1834, Wednesday 1 October 1834, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh MS 21024, folio 42.

Read this catalogue entry in full

This catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012.