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

Finberg has identified this view as likely to be of Corstorphine; once a village to the west of Edinburgh, now a suburb of the city.1 Turner had visited the village in 1801 and his sketches, although they do not show the same view, include similar trees and houses and have the same character as this one (Tate D02885–D02886, D02836–D02837, D02840–D02841; Turner Bequest LV 51a–52, 19a–20, 21a –22). Edinburgh from Corstophine Hill was one of the illustrated views of the Provincial Antiquities, the publication that Turner was in Scotland to gather material for, and it is likely that he sketched the village in case he was asked to design the illustration. In the event, it was the Revd John Thomson who illustrated the subject, which was engraved by William Woolnoth for the third number of the publication. It is possible that Turner and Thomson visited Corstorphine together as they were known to have sketched together on this trip.2 Turner also made sketches of the nearby village of Dean (Scotch Antiquities Tate D13738, D13739, D13740, D13741, D13742; Turner Bequest CLXVII 71–73) and St Bernard’s Well (Edinburgh,1818 sketchbook Tate D13572, D13573; Turner Bequest CLXVI 63a–64, Scotch Antiquities Tate D13644, D13645; Turner Bequest CLXVII 37, 38), and drew the view of Edinburgh from the west.

The view here shows Corstorphine from a high vantage point – probably Corstorphine Hill – looking east through trees at the houses below, the Water of Leith in the middle distance, and Edinburgh beyond. The domed tower of St George’s Church (now the West Register House) can be seen in the distance; it also features in similar views of the Village of Dean in the Scotch Antiquities sketchbook (Tate D13739; Turner Bequest CLXVII 71a) and Kings Visit to Scotland sketchbook of 1822 (Tate D17567, D17568; CC 37a–38;).