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 > Watercolours and Drawings Related to the ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dunstanburgh Castle: Rocks in the Foreground 1797-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dunstanburgh Castle: Rocks in the Foreground’ 1797-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Dunstanburgh Castle: Rocks in the Foreground 1797–8
D01114
Turner Bequest XXXVI T
Charcoal on white wove paper, 300 x 478 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXXVI – T’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The composition is based on a drawing in Turner’s North of England sketchbook (Tate D00952; Turner Bequest XXXIV 45). Turner scholar David Hill suggests that its broad expressive handling indicates that it was probably made in preparation for the painting now at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand.1 It was also apparently made use of in the genesis of a finished watercolour now in a UK private collection.2 Turner made further sketches towards these compositions in his Dynevor Castle sketchbook (Tate D01599–D01600, D01603–D01604, D01607–D01608, D01611–D01612; Turner Bequest XL 80a–81, 82a–83, 84a–85, 86a–87).
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.23–4 no.32, pl.28.
2
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.331 no.284.
Technical notes:
The sheet is stained and dirty, with blots of brown ink.
Verso:
Blank

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Dunstanburgh Castle: Rocks in the Foreground 1797–8 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-rocks-in-the-foreground-r1150269, accessed 24 April 2024.