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 > North Wales Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dolbadarn Castle, Llanberis, with Glyder Fawr and Snowdon 1798

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dolbadarn Castle, Llanberis, with Glyder Fawr and Snowdon’ 1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 33 Recto:
Dolbadarn Castle, Llanberis, with Glyder Fawr and Snowdon 1798
D01388
Turner Bequest XXXIX 33
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 170 x 266 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘33’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXIX 33’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
A more distant view of the same group of mountains is on folio 32 recto (D01387). Turner made a study of Dolbadarn on its promontory beside Lake Llanberis in his contemporary Hereford Court sketchbook (Tate D01300; Turner Bequest XXXVIII 47), which was to attract a number of commissions. The castle became an important image of Welsh history for Turner, who submitted an oil painting of it as his Diploma Work for the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 1802.1
The view across the lake with Snowdon beyond is the subject of a series of experimental watercolours (Tate D03642, D04175–D04177, D04180–D04182; Turner Bequest LX a A, LXX X, Y, Z, c, d, e).
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.9–10 no.12, pl.7 (colour).
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Dolbadarn Castle, Llanberis, with Glyder Fawr and Snowdon 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-dolbadarn-castle-llanberis-with-glyder-fawr-and-snowdon-r1173616, accessed 25 April 2024.