'Sunrise, a Castle on a Bay: 'Solitude'', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Sunrise, a Castle on a Bay: 'Solitude'

Date c.1840-5

MediumOil paint on canvas

Dimensionssupport: 908 x 1219 mm frame: 1071 x 1377 x 86 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

N01985

Not on display

Display caption

In the 1840s Turner reworked in oils a number of the images he had first created for the set of mezzotints known as Liber Studiorum (1807-19). Though his Biblical or classical subjects were generally grouped in the Liber in a category defined as ‘Historical’, Turner also developed a type of refined pastoral landscape, which was conceived in the spirit of Claude Lorrain’s paintings. The mezzotint design that was the starting point for this late oil painting was one of these and deliberately paid tribute to Claude by reworking his celebrated Landscape with Psyche outside the Palace of Cupid (National Gallery).

February 2010