Joseph Mallord William Turner

Dieppe Castle

1845

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Dieppe Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite, gouache and watercolour on paper
Dimensions
Support: 232 x 332 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D35477
Turner Bequest CCCLX 19

Catalogue entry

In this sketch, Turner takes in the western side of Dieppe Castle as viewed from the top of the chalk cliffs west of the harbour. Distinctions in colour have been made between the different elements of the structure and its terrain. The approach bridge, the tall southern tower, and its cliff-top footing are picked out in various shades of rose while the bulk of the castle is washed over in a single shade of light ochre.1 In the background, Dieppe’s plane unfolds to terminate, beneath a fresh blue sky, in vast the easterly chalk cliffs.
1
For the castle’s history, see Claude Féron, Dieppe, Paris 1981, pp.22–3.
Verso:
Blank; except for an upside-down ‘5’ inscribed in faint red ink at the top left of the page.

John Chu
February 2014

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Left Right