J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Abbotsford Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dunbar 1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dunbar’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 52 Recto:
Dunbar 1831
D26015
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 52
Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 113 x 185 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘52’ top right and ‘271’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVII – 52’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The ruins of Dunbar Castle are seen here from nearby to the east. Continuing from folio 51 verso (D26014; CCLXVII 51a), this view of the castle and the rocky headland on which it sits is almost identical to two studies that Turner made on a previous visit to Dunbar in 1818 (Tate D13632, D13639–D13640; Turner Bequest CLXVII 29, 31c–32). Those studies contributed to his watercolour, Dunbar circa 1823 (private collection).1
For more information on this visit to Dunbar see folio 48 (D26008; CCLXVII 48).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.426 no.1066.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Dunbar 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-dunbar-r1134385, accessed 23 September 2024.