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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1811 > Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dartmouth Castle 1811

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dartmouth Castle’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 240 Recto:
Dartmouth Castle 1811
D08785
Turner Bequest CXXIII 237
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘237’ top left, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXIII – 237’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Dartmouth Castle and the tower of St Petrox’s Church are shown on the west bank of the Dart Estuary, looking south-east towards the Kingswear side. There are related views on folios 2 verso, 3 recto and 238 verso (D08365, D08366, D08783); other Dartmouth views are discussed under the second of these. There is a view towards Dartmouth on the verso (D08786; CXXIII 237a).
The present sketch, with its more detailed treatment of the castle’s stonework, appears to have been used along with the one on folio 3 recto for the watercolour Dartmouth Castle, on the River Dart (Tate D18137; Turner Bequest CCVIII D),1 engraved for the Rivers of England series in 1824.
1
Wilton 1979, p.385 no.737, reproduced; unspecified ‘[s]tudies of Dartmouth Castle’ in this sketchbook and elsewhere are mentioned.
Technical notes:
The next leaf (preceding what is now folio 241 recto; D08787; CXXIII 238) has been torn out, leaving a narrow, irregular, unaccessioned blank stub. Its extraction slightly damaged the present page along the gutter at the head of the book (at the top right in relation to the drawing).

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Dartmouth Castle 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2011, 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-dartmouth-castle-r1137264, accessed 25 April 2024.