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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > History Painting c.1799-1807 > Studies for Pictures Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dunstanburgh Castle from the North c.1799-1802

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dunstanburgh Castle from the North’ c.1799-1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 5 Recto:
Dunstanburgh Castle from the North c.1799–1802
D03998
Turner Bequest LXIX 5
Ink and wash with white gouache on blue laid paper, 135 x 210 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘5’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXIX-5’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner seems to have considered Dunstanburgh as the subject matter of a large watercolour on which he was working about 1800 which eventually became a view of Pembroke Castle, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1801 (National Museum Wales, Cardiff)1 and again in a new, slightly modified version, in 1806 (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto);2 see under folio 1 recto (D03994). The anchor in the left foreground and boat to the right occur in that study.
The artist had already made views in both oil and watercolour of Dunstanburgh from the sea; see Tate D00890, D00891, D01112 and D01113 (Turner Bequest XXXIII S, T, XXXVI R, S). Note also the drawings of Dunstanburgh in the Wilson sketchbook (Tate D01211–D01212; Turner Bequest XXXVII 94–95), and in the Dynevor Castle sketchbook (Tate D01603–D01604; Turner Bequest XL 82a–83).
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.331 no.280.
2
Ibid., no.281, reproduced.
Technical notes:
The splashes of brown ink across folio 2 recto (D03995) and the verso of folio 101 (D04117; Turner Bequest LXIX 102) may be from this drawing.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Dunstanburgh Castle from the North c.1799–1802 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 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-dunstanburgh-castle-from-the-north-r1177875, accessed 26 April 2024.