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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North Wales 1799-1801 > Dolbadarn Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Figures on a Hillside, with a Standing Stone 1799

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Figures on a Hillside, with a Standing Stone’ 1799
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 55 Recto:
Figures on a Hillside, with a Standing Stone 1799
D02079
Turner Bequest XLVI 55
Pencil on white wove paper prepared with a pale buff ground, 79 x 130 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Bards Well’ bottom right and ‘B’ towards top right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘55’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XLVI – 55’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The standing stone in this sketch, drawn with the page turned horizontally, is presumably one of the components of a Neolithic stone circle, probably that situated on the moors above Penmaenmawr and known today as the ‘Druids’ Circle’. Turner seems to have followed an inland route along the coast, traveling from Conwy to Prenmaenmawr, as demonstrated by the view in the Sychnant Pass on folios 57 verso–58 recto (D02084–D02085).
The stone may be that in the composition study on folio 109 recto (D02156), which is evidently connected with the pair of watercolours telling the story of the destruction of the Welsh Bards by Edward I (Tate D04164,1 D04168; Turner Bequest LXX M, Q); see also folio 1 recto (D01993). Turner may have been told that the site was known as ‘the Bards’ Well’, and considered using elements observed on the spot as components of one or other of his Bardic compositions.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.329 no.263, pl.52.

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Figures on a Hillside, with a Standing Stone 1799 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-figures-on-a-hillside-with-a-standing-stone-r1179938, accessed 21 September 2024.