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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > North of England Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower with the Sea Beyond 1797

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower with the Sea Beyond’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 49 Recto:
Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower with the Sea Beyond 1797
D00954
Turner Bequest XXXIV 46a
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 210 x 270 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom left
Stamped in black ‘XXXIV 46 A’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject is drawn with the page turned horizontally. Turner made a rapid colour note of the Lilburn Tower from almost the same viewpoint in his Wilson sketchbook (Tate D01211–D01212; Turner Bequest XXXVII 94–95), which was in use about the time of his North of England tour and may have been brought with him. This is a more detailed account of the subject, though it is similarly concerned to render the brooding, romantic atmosphere of the spot. He may have returned to Dunstanburgh in 1799 and made further rapid sketches of both Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh in his Dynevor Castle sketchbook (Tate D01599–D01600, D01603–D01604; Turner Bequest XL 80a–81, 82a–83).
Technical notes:
The page is discoloured from prolonged display.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by John Ruskin in pen and brown ink ‘127’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed in pencil ‘XXXIV. | [?page ...] | E7. XXXIV – 46A’.

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower with the Sea Beyond 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-dunstanburgh-castle-the-lilburn-tower-with-the-sea-beyond-r1150110, accessed 18 April 2024.