Joseph Mallord William Turner

?Dunstanburgh Castle

c.1828

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Studies for Published ‘England and Wales’ Subjects
Medium: Watercolour and gouache on paper
Dimensions: Support: 273 × 435 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D25313
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 191

Display caption

The location of this building on the edge of a bluff, and the general massing of land and sea strongly tie it to Dunstanburgh Castle as represented by Turner in his view of the ruin for his 'England and Wales' series. It may well be that here the painter merely indicated the castle in an extremely summary form, as we know he did with other buildings elsewhere (no.27). If this is Dunstanburgh, then a dawn scene is depicted as in the 'England and Wales' drawing, although the demarcation between sea and sky that should be apparent on the extreme right is somewhat lost in a mass of dark tones.

Gallery label, September 2004

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