'The Castle, Edinburgh', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

The Castle, Edinburgh

From Edinburgh, 1818, Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CLXVI

Date 1818

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 90 x 112 mm

Collection

Tate

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

Reference

D13556

Turner Bequest CLXVI 54 a

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Edinburgh, 1818, Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 54 Verso:

The Castle, Edinburgh 1818

D13556
Turner Bequest CLXVI 54a

Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 112 mm

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

With the sketchbook inverted and continuing onto folio 55 (D13557) is a drawing of Edinburgh Castle. The view looking up to the Half Moon Battery with the Esplanade below and the row of houses on Castle Hill to the left (folio 55) was taken from the north-east, perhaps from the Mound.

Although the castle was not itself a subject commissioned by Walter Scott for his Provincial Antiquities, as the city’s most prominent landmark it is an inevitable feature of many Edinburgh views and Turner made numerous studies accordingly, sketching the castle from all orientations and comparing views from different points in the city and its environs.

There is light but extensive foxing across this page.

Thomas Ardill
January 2008

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.