Joseph Mallord William Turner

Criccieth: The Castle from the West

1798

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
North Wales Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 170 × 266 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D01378
Turner Bequest XXXIX 23

Catalogue entry

Turner seems to have used this broad outline of the castle ruins and steep cliff, drawn with the page turned horizontally, as the basis for his watercolour of Criccieth (British Museum, London)1 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales, engraved as Crickieth [sic] Castle, North Wales in 1837 (Tate impressions: T04610, T06126). In the process of developing the initial idea he effectively reversed the relationship between sea and land so that, whereas here the waters of what is now Tremadog Bay are to the right, in the finished view open sea is implied to the left. Drawings of Criccieth on folios 24 recto and 25 recto (D01379, D01380) were no doubt also called in aid.
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.402 no.876, reproduced.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

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