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 84 Recto:
Conwy: The Castle from the East 1798
D01336
Turner Bequest XXXVIII 82
Pencil on white wove paper, 229 x 332 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘XXXVIII 82’ bottom left, descending vertically
In this drawing Turner seems to have chosen his viewpoint so as to create a ready-made picturesque composition, with foreground trees grouped to frame the view of castle and town walls. Despite this evident preparation for a finished view, no watercolour of the subject is known. Other views of Conwy in this book are on the rectos of folios 80–83, 85 and 86 (D01303–D01308; Turner Bequest XXXVIII 50, 50a, 51, 52, 53, 54).
In 1909, Finberg suggested that this page, then loose, was ‘Probably the leaf cut out after p. 52’1 (the latter now being folio 83 recto; D01306), and it was subsequently bound in there.
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.88; see also p.86.
Technical notes:
The sheet stained and discoloured from exposure;
Verso:
Inscribed in pencil (not in Turner’s hand) ‘Conway Castle | Pencil’ and ‘No 28’; not stamped.

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-r1173224, accessed 19 April 2024.