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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > County Durham and Northumberland 1817 > Durham, North Shore, Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bywell Castle and the River Tyne towards Sunset 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bywell Castle and the River Tyne towards Sunset’ 1817
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 86 Verso:
Bywell Castle and the River Tyne towards Sunset 1817
D12434
Turner Bequest CLVII 86a
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 185 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The viewpoint is north-east of the castle, looking upstream beyond the bend of the Tyne, where a weir is indicated, to the small village of Bywell. The tall tower of St Andrew’s Church in the centre, with the squatter one of St Peter’s Church on the left. The rough disk to the right of the castle is presumably the setting autumnal sun. A 1774 engraving of A View of Bywell Bay in Northumberland after William Bellers shows the same view, with the weir and various admiring onlookers (impression at the British Museum, London).
This is one of a sequence of studies of Bywell between folio 81 verso (D12424) and folio 88 verso (D12438); for the history of the castle, see the entry for folio 81 verso.
Technical notes:
A short tear towards the bottom of the left-hand (inner) edge has been repaired.

Matthew Imms
February 2010

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Bywell Castle and the River Tyne towards Sunset 1817 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-bywell-castle-and-the-river-tyne-towards-sunset-r1139435, accessed 19 September 2024.