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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Torthorwald Castle, near Dumfries 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 57 Recto:
Torthorwald Castle, near Dumfries 1831
D25873
Turner Bequest CCLXVI 57
Pencil on white wove paper, 187 x 114 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘57’ top left running vertically and ‘342’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVI 57’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned to the left are four sketches of Torthorwald Castle. Having drawn the ruins in detail from up close on folio 56 verso (D25872), on this page Turner attempted to record the castle in relation to its surroundings. The top sketch therefore shows the castle from a distance, setting it among near and distant hills. Beneath this is a sketch from closer to indicating how the ruins sit on the earthwork motte. The bottom two sketches set the castle alongside the village of Torthorwald, where it appears almost to nestle among the houses in the second from bottom sketch, but rise above them at the bottom of the page.

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Torthorwald Castle, near Dumfries 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2009, 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-torthorwald-castle-near-dumfries-r1134240, accessed 28 March 2024.