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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Castle, Edinburgh 1818

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 55 Recto:
The Castle, Edinburgh 1818
D13557
Turner Bequest CLXVI 55
Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 112 mm
Inscribed in pencil by ?Finberg ‘55’ top left inverted
Stamped in black ‘CLXVI 55’ top left inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the book inverted this page shows the continuation of a view from the north-east of Edinburgh Castle (see folio 54 verso; D13556) with houses on Castle Hill to the left. There are two further details on this page; a repeat of a crenellated tower drawn to the upper left of the castle, and at the bottom left, a sketch of a step-shaped battlement and turret at the north-west of the castle beyond the view of the castle on this page. This feature was sketched by Turner several times in the Bass Rock and Edinburgh sketchbook (Tate D13438, D13439; Turner Bequest CLXV 63a, 64).
The top left corner of the page seems to have come detached at some point and reattached prior to the application of Finberg’s inventory stamp around 1907. To the left of the stamp the folio number ‘55’ has been inscribed in pencil suggesting that the detached scrap was identified as belonging to this page before it was reattached and the page was stamped. There are a few orange marks around this area of damage.

Thomas Ardill
January 2008

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘The Castle, Edinburgh 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2008, 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-the-castle-edinburgh-r1132102, accessed 19 March 2024.