Joseph Mallord William Turner

Berry Pomeroy Castle

1811

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Not on display

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 117 × 75 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D08636
Turner Bequest CXXIII 142

Catalogue entry

The ruined castle is seen from the north, showing the range above the North Terrace from near the mill pond in the valley of the Gatcombe Brook which skirts that side of the castle.1 Turner notes a ‘dam’ in the foreground, presumably a weir or sluice regulating the flow from the pond to the stream. There are slight indications of such a structure in other drawings made nearby.

For a discussion of Berry Pomeroy and other studies in this sketchbook, see the entry for folio 141 recto (D08628; CXXIII 138).

See local map, castle plan and ‘old print’ from a similar viewpoint in Deryck Seymour and Jack Hazzard, Berry Pomeroy Castle, Torquay 1982, pp.14, 18, 168 respectively.

Technical notes:

There is slight offsetting from the ink inscription on folio 144 verso opposite (D08635; CXXIII 141a).

Matthew Imms
June 2011

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