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 > Ivy Bridge to Penzance Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner St Michael's Mount: The Northern Range of the Castle, with Marazion Beyond 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘St Michael's Mount: The Northern Range of the Castle, with Marazion Beyond’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 36 Recto:
St Michael’s Mount: The Northern Range of the Castle, with Marazion Beyond 1811
D08917
Turner Bequest CXXV 35
Pencil on white wove paper, 166 x 208 mm
Watermark ‘Fellows | 1808’
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXXV – 35’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At the top right the square central church tower with its beacon known as St Michael’s Chair1 is partly masked by the north-western corner of the castle, drawn from the slopes of the mount. At the bottom left is a watchtower, said to date from the Civil War,2 near the batteries on this level behind Turner’s viewpoint, with the mast of a boat in the island’s harbour to its left and Marazion on the mainland beyond to the north-east.
The lower levels of this part of the castle were extensively rebuilt in 1927,3 with additional accommodation below the nearest wing, the two outer sides of which are now crowned by shallow, crenellated gables. Turner has emphasised the ruggedness of the setting with heavy pencil work.
The drawing continues a little way onto folio 35 verso opposite (D08916; CXXV 34a), showing the western arm of the harbour. The watchtower is seen from the opposite direction on folio 35 recto (D08915; CXXV 34), while the sketch on folio 37 verso (D08919; CXXV 36a) shows more of the west front. For other views of the site, see under folio 32 recto (D08910; CXXV 31).
1
Nikolaus Pevsner, Cornwall, The Buildings of England, 2nd ed., revised by Enid Radcliffe, Harmondsworth 1970, p.195.
2
Caption to photograph of circa 1870 in Jonathan Holmes, Mount’s Bay, Archive Photographs Series, Chalford 1996, p.97.
3
Pevsner 1970, p.195.
Verso:
Blank. There is some brown spotting, and a tear to the left-hand edge has been repaired.

Matthew Imms
February 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘St Michael’s Mount: The Northern Range of the Castle, with Marazion Beyond 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 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-st-michaels-mount-the-northern-range-of-the-castle-with-r1137400, accessed 23 September 2024.