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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Staffa Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Gylen Castle and the South Coast of Kerrera from the West 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Gylen Castle and the South Coast of Kerrera from the West’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 65 Recto:
Gylen Castle and the South Coast of Kerrera from the West 1831
D26868
Turner Bequest CCLXXIII 65
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 186 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘65’ top left running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXIII 65’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch is one of a series of views of Gylen Castle that Turner made from the west: folios 63 verso–67 verso; D26865–D26873). The present sketch was made from the headland near the castle. While Turner represented the ruin as just a faint rectangular outline, he paid more attention to the cliffs and crags along the south coast of Kerrera, his rapidly scribbled lines capturing the rocky character of the terrain while recording the topography with ample accuracy.
The castle is depicted in more detail in other sketches, especially on folio 73 verso (D26885); see that entry for further details about Turner’s visit to Gylen Castle.

Thomas Ardill
February 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Gylen Castle and the South Coast of Kerrera from the West 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2010, 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-gylen-castle-and-the-south-coast-of-kerrera-from-the-west-r1135225, accessed 24 April 2024.