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

This view of a town (continued on folio 22; D13491) bisected by a river, and joined by a multi-arched bridge has incongruously been identified by Finberg as Dunbar.1 While David Wallace-Hadrill has followed Finberg in noting the drawing as ‘Dunbar (F[inberg])’, his notes have also been annotated in another hand (probably by Janet Carolan) with the suggestion, ‘Berwick?’.2 If we consider views of Berwick-upon-Tweed (rather than North Berwick), which Turner travelled through on his northward journey, then the river and bridge fit. In fact, Turner’s Berwick-Upon-Tweed, circa 1832 (watercolour, location unknown),3 may provide a similar view of the town although taken from the other side of the bridge. On the left of the watercolour, and the right of this sketch (folio 22), is a tower that forms part of Berwick Castle. We therefore stand on the west bank of the Tweed, looking north towards the castle.