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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales and Isle of Wight 1795-1800 > South Wales Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Kidwelly: The Castle Seen from the Opposite Bank of the River Gwendraeth 1795

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Kidwelly: The Castle Seen from the Opposite Bank of the River Gwendraeth’ 1795
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 16 Recto:
Kidwelly: The Castle Seen from the Opposite Bank of the River Gwendraeth 1795
D00568
Turner Bequest XXVI 16
Pencil on white wove paper, 203 x 264 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Kidwelly Castle’ bottom left, ‘Bright Orange [?Staines] Bright S G [i.e. ‘Sap Green’?] and Ocker Rd. | Irony Grey with D B. Umber’ top right, and ‘16’ bottom right. Descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXVI 16’ top right, ascending vertically (partly erased)
Stamped in black ‘XXVI 16’ bottom right
A drawing of Kidwelly Castle was sold at Christie’s, London, 14 May 1859; this may be the watercolour now in a private collection.1 Wilton points out that the angle of that view is slightly different from that of the present drawing, which omits the principal gate at the left; but there are sufficient similarities, including the cows in the river beneath the right-hand tower, to suggest that the watercolour may have been adapted from this study.
The subject as recorded here was to be used as the basis for one of the most atmospheric of the England and Wales watercolours (Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston),2 engraved in 1837. A view of the castle from the opposite direction is on folio 18 recto (D00570; Turner Bequest XXVI 17).
The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally.
1
Wilton 1979, p.327 no.245, reproduced.
2
Ibid., p.401 no.870.
Verso:
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘799 | 176 Inv’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Kidwelly: The Castle Seen from the Opposite Bank of the River Gwendraeth 1795 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-kidwelly-the-castle-seen-from-the-opposite-bank-of-the-river-r1140895, accessed 23 April 2024.