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The Romantic North

Nature's Identities | In Focus: Conrad Atkinson | In Focus: JMW Turner

In Focus: JMW Turner

JMW Turner Norham Castle, on the River Tweed circa 1822-3 View in Tate Collection Watercolour on paper, support: 156 x 216 mm © Tate 2005 Bequeathed by the artist 1856

In 1797 as a young man of twenty-two, J.M.W. Turner made his first major journey north and reached as far as the border with Scotland, where a castle had once been built to defend the English against marauding Scots. The watercolours he painted of the ruined Norham Castle proved so popular that he repeated the subject, sometimes accompanying it with verse - once with words by James Thomson, a Scot who grew up in the Tweed valley, and another time by a line from Sir Walter Scott's Marmion.

Norham Castle came to exert an emotional hold on Turner, not only because it was attractive to look at but because he associated it with his success and so it became part of his identity as an artist. Norham Castle, on the River Tweed c.1822-3 is one of his later versions of the subject. It was made as part of a series of images featuring the rivers of England. In it Turner drew attention to the stark contrast between those fortunate enough to live south of the border and the poor people condemned to eke out a living in Scotland. The centrally placed castle dominates the picture and contrasts with the humble shed on the Scottish side. A Scot wearing a kilt operates a rowing boat while an Englishman has a grander sailing boat. The disparity between English wealth and Scottish poverty had been one of the reasons for conflict between the two countries.

JMW Turner Norham Castle, Sunrise circa 1845 View in Tate Collection Oil on canvas, support: 908 x 1219 © Tate 2005 Bequeathed by the artist 1856

Much later in his life, Turner painted the castle again from memory in Norham Castle, Sunrise c.1845. You will notice that the composition is the same as in the earlier work, with the castle centrally placed, water below and banks framing it on either side. But the painting is unfinished and neither Scotsman nor shed are included. Instead the artist might have been dreaming of the subject which he first discovered as a young man and which started off his highly successful career.