J.M.W. Turner
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Artwork
Joseph Mallord William Turner Edinburgh, from Blackford Hill 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 8 Recto:
Edinburgh, from Blackford Hill 1831
D25940
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 8
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 8
Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 113 x 185 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘8’ top right and ‘271’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVII – 8’ bottom right
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘8’ top right and ‘271’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVII – 8’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1975
Turner and the Poets: Engravings and Watercolours from his Later Period, Marble Hill House [Greater London Council], Twickenham, April–June 1975, University of East Anglia, Norwich, June–July 1975, Central Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, July–August 1975 (XIV).
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.857, CCLXVII 8, as ‘Edinburgh, from Braid Hills, See Engraving, Scott’s Poems 1833.’.
1980
Gerald Finley, Landscapes of Memory: Turner as Illustrator to Scott, London 1980, reproduced pp.133 pl.57 as ‘Edinburgh from Blackford Hill’, 136.
1975
Mordechai Omer, Turner and the Poets: Engravings and Watercolours from his Later Period, exhibition catalogue, Marble Hill House [Greater London Council], Twickenham 1975, p.[32] cat.XIV.
1990
Luke Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 1990, pp.199, 258 note 30.
2000
Eric Shanes, Evelyn Joll, Ian Warrell et al., Turner: The Great Watercolours, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London 2000, p.187 under cat.78.
The drawing on this page continues from folio 7 verso (D25939; CCLXVII 7a) with a view of Edinburgh from Blackford Hill, made in preparation for an illustration to Marmion, volume 7 of Sir Walter Scott’s Poetical Works.1 This part of the picture shows the eastern half of the city with the spires of St Giles’s Cathedral and the Tron Kirk on the High Street at the centre left of the page and Calton Hill at the centre. On the hill are the City Observatory, Nelson’s Monument, and the National Monument. Although it is not clear in the drawing, Turner included Heriot’s Hospital School in the illustration, and it should be seen just beneath and to the left of St Giles’s. Beyond the city is the Firth of Forth with the island of Inchkeith and the distant shore of Fife. The picture is framed at the right by Arthur’s Seat and the view continues to the right on folio 11 and then on 13 (D25946, D25950; CCLXVII 11, 13), Turner having peeled back several pages to continue the view there.
Thomas Ardill
September 2009
How to cite
Thomas Ardill, ‘Edinburgh, from Blackford Hill 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