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13 November 2006
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18 February 2007
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Turner at Norham The image of Norham Castle flickered in Turner’s imagination for nearly fifty years. He first visited the Northumbrian castle in 1797, aged twenty-two, perhaps on the advice of his colleague Thomas Girtin who had toured the region during the previous summer. Given the subsequent potency of the setting throughout his career, it is striking that Turner made only a couple of sketches there in 1797: one from the mill; and another of the castle seen from the River Tweed below, which served as the template for most of his other depictions of the scene. Significantly, the river marks the border between England and Scotland, a fact Turner generally stressed by his inclusion of figures in highland dress on the left bank. Turner made two later visits to Norham, in 1801 and again in 1831, but between these dates he produced views of the castle for various topographical projects. During the final visit Turner apparently took off his hat and bowed towards the ruins. In explaining this gesture, he said, ‘I made a drawing or painting of Norham several years since. It took, and from that day to this I have had as much to do as my hands could execute’. Unsurprisingly, the castle has been likened to a special ‘mascot’ or touchstone, and it is somehow appropriate that Turner felt compelled to rework the familiar scene one last time in the mid-1840s.
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Norham Castle and Mill 1797 Pencil on paper 213 x 274 mm Bequeathed by the artist 1856 [+] View this work in the Collection 
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Norham Castle, Sunrise: Colour Study 1797-8 Pencil and watercolour on paper 664 x 840 mm Bequeathed by the artist 1856 [+] View this work in the Collection 
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Norham Castle, Sunrise: Colour Study 1797-8 Pencil and watercolour on paper 560 x 765 mm Bequeathed by the artist 1856 [+] View this work in the Collection Turner produced two large finished watercolours of Norham around 1798. One was shown at the Royal Academy that year; the second was commissioned by Edward Lascelles of Harewood House, his host during the 1797 tour. Both works were anticipated by this pair of full-scale preparatory studies. It seems Turner undertook this process in order to establish how he would realise the modulated tones of sunrise in his finished pictures. Later he habitually adopted the practice of making ‘colour beginnings’ of this kind. A further curiosity is that the back of each sheet is also painted, perhaps to intensify the colours. 
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Studies of Six Cows 1798-9 Pencil and watercolour on paper 152 x 180 mm Bequeathed by the artist 1856 [+] View this work in the Collection 
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Study of Two Cows 1798-9 Pencil and watercolour on paper 154 x 181 mm Bequeathed by the artist 1856 [+] View this work in the Collection Turner’s pastoral images invariably feature a well-stocked foreground. This followed the conventions established much earlier by the seventeenth-century landscape painters that Turner especially admired, such as Claude Lorrain and Aelbert Cuyp. As well as filling a whole sketchbook with his studies of cows, Turner frequently made individual studies as a means of sharpening his observations of the bovine form. 
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Studies of a Cow, and a Cow's Head ?circa 1799-1801 Cows Sketchbook Pencil on paper 117 x 183 mm Bequeathed by the artist 1856 [+] View this work in the Collection 
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Norham Castle on the Tweed circa 1806-7, for the Liber Studiorum Watercolour on paper 192 x 274 mm Bequeathed by the artist 1856 [+] View this work in the Collection While working on his set of mezzotints known as the Liber Studiorum Turner produced almost one hundred monochrome drawings which served as the starting point for the creation of the published images. These deliberately share the sepia tones of old master drawings, especially those of Claude’s Liber Veritatis. This drawing is much softer tonally than the resulting mezzotint, which adds stronger contrasts to give the light effect more force. In the early 1820s Turner made further images of Norham. This small watercolour was produced for a series called The Rivers of England and was there translated into black and white as a rich velvety mezzotint. Turner’s intense familiarity with the subject of Norham made it an ideal neutral reference point for him when exploring new processes or materials. It is worth looking closely at this work to study the fine dots, known as stippling Turner deployed, and which enabled him to place primary colours in close conjunctions, something that he developed from his interest in contemporary colour theory. 
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Norham Castle, on the River Tweed circa 1822-3, for The Rivers of England Watercolour on paper 156 x 216 mm Bequeathed by the artist 1856 [+] View this work in the Collection 
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Norham Castle, on the River Tweed 1824, from The Rivers of England Intaglio print on paper 153 x 216 mm Purchased 1986 [+] View this work in the Collection 
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Norham Castle, on the River Tweed, engraved by C. Turner 1824, from The Rivers of England Mezzotint on paper 154 x 218 mm Purchased 1986 [+] View this work in the Collection | |
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