Joseph Mallord William Turner

Barnard Castle

1831

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 114 × 187 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D25826
Turner Bequest CCLXVI 33 a

Catalogue entry

Here is one sketch of Barnard Castle and three of Egglestone Abbey. Barnard Castle is shown from the south along the River Tees with the castle bridge and the faint outline of the castle above, matching the view of a sketch that Turner made on his first visit to the castle in 1797 (Tate D00936; Turner Bequest XXXIV 30). There are further views on folio 34 (D25827).

The three views of Egglestone Abbey are all drawn with the book in different orientations. Above the Barnard Castle sketch is a view of the abbey from the west. With the sketchbook inverted and at the inner edge of the page with the book turned to the right, there are views of the abbey from the east, a view that is distinguished by the great east window and by the house that was attached to the abbey at its north side.1 There are three further views on the abbey on folio 34 (D25826).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

See David Hill, In Turner’s Footsteps: Through the Hills and Dales of Northern England, London 1984, p.68

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