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 The Castle from the West 1818

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Castle from the West’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 67 Verso:
The Castle from the West 1818
D13442
Turner Bequest CLXV 65a
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Castle from the WNN’ top
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner studied Edinburgh Castle from all sides and made sketches from close to showing the architecture and shape of the crag on which it stands, as well as drawing it from the outskirts of the city, showing the landscape within which it stands. This view of the ‘Castle from the West’, is taken from close to, and as a consequence shows much more of the Castle Rock than the buildings of the castle itself. Turner made a similar study a few pages earlier in this sketchbook (folio 66 verso; D13440; CLXV 64a), though from the north-west. The turret in the centre of folio 66 verso is therefore at the far left of the drawing on this page. The buildings shown are, on the left, the cart sheds, and, on the right, the Ordnance Stores.

Thomas Ardill
November 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘The Castle from the West 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-the-castle-from-the-west-r1131988, accessed 16 April 2024.