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

Ian Warrell has identified this as a view of Newcastle upon Tyne.1 At the centre are the keep of Newcastle Castle and the spire of St Nicholas’s Cathedral. The two can still be seen in this juxtaposition among later buildings, looking north across the Victorian Swing Bridge over the River Tyne from Bridge Street on the Gateshead side, between the High Level Bridge on the left and Tyne Bridge on the right. Turner’s inscription, probably ‘6 Doric Temp’ is over the Moot Hall to the right of the cathedral spire, referring to the classical order and temple-like appearance of the central portico (now obscured by trees from this viewpoint); the building appears in a little more detail, including the six columns, on folio 9 recto opposite (D22165).

On the right, drawn with the page turned vertically, is a detail of a square church tower; it is as yet unidentified, and may be from elsewhere, perhaps in the Midlands, the primary focus of this sketchbook.

For other views of Newcastle, see under the recto (D22163).