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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Likely English, Scottish or Welsh ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Ruined Castle on a Hill Overlooking a Wooded River Valley c.1820-40

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Ruined Castle on a Hill Overlooking a Wooded River Valley’ c.1820-40
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
A Ruined Castle on a Hill Overlooking a Wooded River Valley c.1820–40
D34123
Turner Bequest CCCXLI 399
Pencil on white wove paper, 228 x 184 mm
Blind-stamped with crown over ‘DOBBS, LONDON’ within circle
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom centre
Inscribed in red ink ‘399’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCXLI-399’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg tentatively suggested the setting as English, which is not unlikely, and placed it somewhat arbitrarily in a large ‘Miscellaneous: black and white’ grouping dated between about 1830 and 1841.1 This rural scene with what appears to be a prominent defensive ruin has since eluded identification and further comment. It was presumably drawn directly during an unidentified tour, and is placed in the present section and given the widest date range assigned to other works here pending further investigation, although it could well be earlier.
The reproduction shows the lower half of the once folded sheet only, the upper being blank; the half with the drawing measures 114 x 184 mm.
1
See Finberg 1909, II, p.1091.
Verso:
Blank, with slight staining; inscribed in pencil ‘CCCXLI 399’ top right, ascending vertically, and ‘399’ bottom left, upside down.

Matthew Imms
August 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Ruined Castle on a Hill Overlooking a Wooded River Valley c.1820–40 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-ruined-castle-on-a-hill-overlooking-a-wooded-river-valley-r1184464, accessed 26 April 2024.