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 Edinburgh Castle from the South 1818

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Edinburgh Castle from the South’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 42 Verso:
Edinburgh Castle from the South 1818
D13396
Turner Bequest CLXV 42a
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Edinburgh Castle is seen here from the outskirts of the city in the south. Turner was interested in sketching the castle from all directions, from close up and from a distance, and he seems to have circuited Edinburgh sketching the city and staring up at the castle with views from Braid Hill in the south, Craiglockhart from the south-west, Corstorphine and Murrayfield in the west, Dean Cemetery in the north-west, Calton Hill in the north-east, and Arthur’s Seat in the east. By viewing Edinburgh Castle from a distance, Turner was able to see it against a rural landscape and thus, as he has here, frame the picture with trees and include foliage in the foreground. There are two similar views of the castle in this sketchbook, but from a little further away on folios 44 and 44 verso (D13400, D13399; CLXV 44, 44a).

Thomas Ardill
November 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Edinburgh Castle from the South 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-edinburgh-castle-from-the-south-r1131938, accessed 18 April 2024.