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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales 1798 > Hereford Court Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Conwy: The Castle from the East 1798

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Conwy: The Castle from the East’ 1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 83 Recto:
Conwy: The Castle from the East 1798
D01306
Turner Bequest XXXVIII 52
Pencil on white wove paper, 229 x 332 mm
Watermark ‘1794 | J Whatman’
Blind-stamped lower right with Turner Bequest monogram
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘52’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXVIII 52’ bottom left, descending vertically
Turner seems to have made several finished watercolours based on this drawing, among them one currently untraced1 and another in the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.2 A large watercolour is now in the Getty Museum, San Francisco;3 see f.82 (Tate D01305; Turner Bequest XXXVIII 51) above. An oil painting4 makes use of this drawing among others. The complete sequence of Conwy views in this book is on the rectos of folios 80–86 (D01303–D01306, D01336, D01307, D01308; Turner Bequest XXXVIII 50, 50a, 51, 52, 82, 53, 54).
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.329 no.269.
2
Ibid., p.330 no.271, reproduced.
3
Ibid., pp.329–30 no.270, reproduced.
4
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.107–8 no.141, pl.146 (colour).
Verso:
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Revd Mr Lancaster | 45 Gower Street’, ‘Barrington [or ‘Bannister’]’, ‘Revd Mr Dunford 10.6 [or ‘G’] -’ | Sandleford near Newbury’, ‘8 Miles S. from Reading’ and ‘Revd Mr Ogle Aldermaston’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Conwy: The Castle from the East 1798 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-conwy-the-castle-from-the-east-r1173223, accessed 25 April 2024.