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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Scotland 1818-20 > Bass Rock and Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ruins on a Hill 1818

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ruins on a Hill’ 1818 (Inside front cover of sketchbook)
Inside front cover of sketchbook
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Inside Front Cover:
Ruins on a Hill 1818
D40683
Pencil on white laid paper, 95 x 159 mm
Inscribed in pencil ‘M.’ | ‘2/’ bottom left, running vertically and ‘CLXV’ top left, running vertically
Stamped in black, ‘CLXV’ bottom left, running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The rough sketch on the inside front cover of this sketchbook may represent ruins on a hill. The step-like vertical line and box-shapes in the centre recur in some sketches of ruins in this sketchbook, including those of the Bass Rock (e.g. folios 7 verso, 19; D13334, D13356; CLXV 7a, 19). This page, folio 1 (D13322; CLXV 1), and the inside back cover of this sketchbook all feature rough sketches, probably taken from some distance and evidently made in haste; it is likely that these were the nearest blank sheets of paper to hand when Turner felt the urge to record something seen en route, and may have been made from a moving coach.

Thomas Ardill
August 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Ruins on a Hill 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2007, 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-ruins-on-a-hill-r1131863, accessed 26 April 2024.