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

Finberg identified the main sketch in this page as the North Bridge in Edinburgh.1 The appearance of the bridge has changed considerably owing to its reconstruction in 1877, but this sketch is recognisable as the original structure through comparisons with contemporary engravings such as the one by J and H.S. Storer published in Views in Edinburgh and its Vicinity, Volume 2 in 1818. As a shortcut Turner has only drawn one arch of the bridge but noted ‘3 arches all alike’. The North Bridge connects Princes Street in the north with the Royal Mile to the south. The buildings on this page to the right of the bridge are a separate sketch, but are probably nearby.

The long inscription on this page provides an insight into Turner’s working process on this tour of Scotland, demonstrating the artist taking stock of his work in Edinburgh so far, and listing a number of subjects still to draw: ‘The Castle to do from the High St[reet]. The new C[?hurch]’, the ‘Castle [from the] E[east] and W[est]’, the ‘Tron’ Kirk and something that Finberg reads as ‘Herricks’,2 but could be ‘Horricks’ or perhaps even ‘Heriot’s [Hospital]’, which Turner did sketch during this tour.