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

The subject is continued on folio 142 recto opposite (D03186; Turner Bequest LVI 140). Monzie Castle, a seat of the Campbell clan, dates from the early seventeenth century, but the present building, as drawn by Turner, had been erected only a decade before his visit, in 1791, to designs by John Paterson (working 1780s–died 1832) which incorporated the earlier structure. The heavy castellated towers and façade with a segmental central bay are in the grand semi-classicising style of the Adam brothers; Paterson was in fact Clerk of Works in the office of Robert Adam at the time Monzie was built. Here the castle is seen from the north-east, as Turner approached it from Monzie village.

Further views are on folios 143 verso–144 recto and 144 verso–145 recto (D03189–D03192; Turner Bequest LVI 141a–142, 142a–143). These drawings hardly constitute a sufficiently detailed record to suggest that Turner intended to make a finished view of the house, though it may have occurred to him that its owner might be glad of a picture of the new building. If he had proceeded with such a work, based on a broad panorama like this one or that on D03189–D03190, it would have foreshadowed interestingly the oil painting of 1818 depicting Raby Castle in County Durham (Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore),1 where a similarly castellated house is seen in extensive rolling country.