Joseph Mallord William Turner Castle Upnor c.1829-30
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
Castle Upnor
c.1829-30
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Castle Upnor c.1829–30
D25246
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 124
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 124
Watercolour on white wove paper, 330 x 551 mm
Watermark ‘T Edmonds 1825’
Inscribed by Turner ‘[?H Water]’ top right
Inscribed in red ink ‘124’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 124’ bottom right
Watermark ‘T Edmonds 1825’
Inscribed by Turner ‘[?H Water]’ top right
Inscribed in red ink ‘124’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 124’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1936
Watercolours from the Turner Bequest [Loan Series G], Empire Loan Collections Society, National Gallery, Cape Town, May 1936–June 1937 (no catalogue but frame number 25, as ‘Sunset over Water’).
1965
[Display of watercolours from the Turner Bequest], Tate Gallery, London, ?–?March 1965 (no catalogue, as ‘Sunset on lake’).
1983
J.M.W. Turner: Studies for Finished Watercolours (c.1825–40): Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Loaned by the British Museum, Tate Gallery, London, January–June 1983 (no catalogue, as ‘Sunset on lake’).
1983
J.M.W. Turner, à l’occasion du cinquantième anniversaire du British Council, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, October 1983–January 1984 (213, reproduced in colour, as ‘Étude de colours: coucher de soleil avec le château de Flint’, ?c.1830–4).
1988
Summer Miscellany: Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Tate Gallery, London, July–October 1988 (no catalogue, as ‘Sunset, Flint Castle’).
1991
Turner: The Fourth Decade: Watercolours 1820–1830, Tate Gallery, London, January–May 1991 (41, reproduced in colour, as ‘Castle Upnor, Kent: preparatory study’, c.1829–30).
1995
Making & Meaning: Turner: The Fighting Temeraire, National Gallery, London, July–October 1995 (30, reproduced in colour, as ‘Castle Upnor, Kent: Preparatory Study’, c.1829–30).
2000
Pure as Italian Air: Turner and Claude Lorrain, Clore Gallery, Tate Britain, London, November 2000–April 2001 (no catalogue).
2002
Turner et le Lorrain, Musée des beaux-arts, Nancy, December 2002–March 2003 (77, reproduced in colour, as ‘Castle Upnor, Kent: preparatory study’, c.1829–30).
2008
¿¿¿¿¿¿ [Turner] (1775–1851), Pushkin Museum of Art, Moscow, November 2008–February 2009 (64, reproduced in colour, as ‘Castle Upnor, Kent: Preparatory Study’, c.1829–30).
2009
Turner from the Tate Collection, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, April–July 2009 (64, as ‘Castle Upnor, Kent: Preparatory Study’, c.1829–30).
2011
William Turner. Maler der Elemente / Turner and the Elements, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, June–September 2011, Muzeum Narodowe, Krakow, October–January 2012, Turner Contemporary, Margate, January–May 2012 (77, exhibited at Margate only, reproduced in colour, as ‘Castle Upnor, Kent: Preparatory Study’, c.1829–30).
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.823, CCLXIII 124, as ‘Sunset on lake’. c.1820–30.
1983
Andrew Wilton in John Gage, Jerrold Ziff, Nicholas Alfrey and others, J.M.W. Turner, à l’occasion du cinquantième anniversaire du British Council, exhibition catalogue, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris 1983, pp.269–70 no.213, reproduced in colour, as ‘Étude de colours: coucher de soleil avec le château de Flint’. ?c.1830–4.
1991
Ian Warrell, Turner: The Fourth Decade: Watercolours 1820–1830, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1991, reproduced in colour p.20, pp.41 under no.29, 48 no.41, reproduced.
1995
Judy Egerton in Egerton, Martin Wyld and Ashok Roy, Making & Meaning: Turner: The Fighting Temeraire, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery, London 1995, pp.54, 135 no.30, as ‘Castle Upnor, Kent: Preparatory Study’. c.1829–30, pl.31 (colour).
1997
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Watercolour Explorations 1810–1842, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p.96, p.105 (p.96 Appendix I under ‘England and Wales Series’, as ‘Study for Castle Upnor, Kent’. ?c.1831, p.105 Appendix II, as ‘Study: Castle Upnor, Kent?’).
1999
Peter Bower, Turner’s Later Papers: A Study of the Manufacture, Selection and Use of his Drawing Papers 1820–1851, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1999, p.85 under no.45. as c.1831.
2002
Ian Warrell in Warrell, Blandine Chavanne and Michael Kitson, Turner et le Lorrain, exhibition catalogue, Musée des beaux-arts, Nancy 2002, pp.149–51 no.77, reproduced in colour, 197, as ‘Castle Upnor, Kent: preparatory study’. c.1829–30.
2011
Inés Richter-Musso, ‘Fusion’ in Richter-Musso, Ortrud Westheider and others, Turner and the Elements, exhibition catalogue, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg 2011, pp.[208], 213 no.77, reproduced in colour, as ‘Castle Upnor, Kent: Preparatory Study’. c.1829–30.
Finberg suggested this colour study’s inscription, which appears to be ‘H Water’,1 reads ‘N. Wales’,2 presumably influencing Andrew Wilton’s identification of the subject as Flint Castle.3 A watercolour of Flint Castle, North Wales of about 1834 (National Gallery Wales, Cardiff)4 was engraved in 1836 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Tate impressions: T05873, T06121), and there is a similar watercolour of the scene from about 1830 (private collection).5 The relationships of castle, shore, sun and water are comparable.
However, Ian Warrell has since recognised this as relating directly to the watercolour Castle Upnor, Kent of about 1831 (Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester),6 engraved in 1833 for England and Wales (Tate impression: T06102); the castle is based on a drawing in the Medway sketchbook (Tate D17405; Turner Bequest CXCIX 23a), and the overall view on Tate D17501 and D17502 (Turner Bequest CXCIX 87a–88) in the same book.7 Warrell observes that Turner here establishes the ‘bare essentials’ of the scene, ‘concentrating ... on exactly how the golden sunlight will pervade his design’.8 Inés Richter-Musso describes the work as ‘almost abstract. A glittering sun has been positioned ... so that the viewer cannot help but gaze directly on it ... The effect is comparable to an overexposed photograph.’9
Eric Shanes proposes another sheet (Tate D25276; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 154) as a variant Castle Upnor design. See also the introductions to the present subsection of identified subjects and the overall England and Wales ‘colour beginnings’ grouping to which this work has been assigned.
Technical notes:
Peter Bower notes that this is a half sheet from a batch of unbleached paper made by the Thomas Edmonds Mill at Rye Mill, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.1 There are heavy pencil marks, presumably made as indications for mounting, excluding about 35 mm from the top and about 130 mm of the right-hand side. Shanes relates the paper to other ‘colour beginning’ sheets (Tate D25302, D25346, D25347, D25447; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 180, 224, 225, 324).2
Peter Bower notes that this is a half sheet from a batch of unbleached paper made by the Thomas Edmonds Mill at Rye Mill, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.1 There are heavy pencil marks, presumably made as indications for mounting, excluding about 35 mm from the top and about 130 mm of the right-hand side. Shanes relates the paper to other ‘colour beginning’ sheets (Tate D25302, D25346, D25347, D25447; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 180, 224, 225, 324).2
Verso:
Blank, save for an area of grey watercolour wash at the bottom right corner and inscriptions: in pencil by ?Turner ‘40’ towards centre right, upside down; inscribed in pencil ‘AB 93 P’ towards bottom right; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram above ‘CCLXIII – 124’ bottom right; and inscribed in pencil ‘CCLXIII 124’ towards bottom right.
Blank, save for an area of grey watercolour wash at the bottom right corner and inscriptions: in pencil by ?Turner ‘40’ towards centre right, upside down; inscribed in pencil ‘AB 93 P’ towards bottom right; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram above ‘CCLXIII – 124’ bottom right; and inscribed in pencil ‘CCLXIII 124’ towards bottom right.
Ian Warrell notes that this sheet was grouped by John Ruskin with others in a parcel marked ‘Colour effects. finer’.1
Matthew Imms
March 2013
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘Castle Upnor c.1829–30 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2013, https://www