Joseph Mallord William Turner

This sensitive study was developed from a drawing made on the spot, perhaps on this page, as preparation for the oil painting Harlech Castle, from Twgwyn Ferry, Summer’s Evening Twilight, executed for the 5th Earl Cowper (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven). Much of the damage now apparent is no doubt a result of its use for this purpose; Turner’s note on the verso records the commission. The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799.1 Compare the view on folio 91 recto (D01448; Turner Bequest XXXIX 86); and see the colour study (Tate D01904; Turner Bequest XLIV b) which is partly based on this drawing.

Technical notes:

The sheet was detached and mounted separately for exhibition; its backing was removed as a result of the Tate Gallery flood of 1928. The sheet was trimmed along the top of the drawing, towards the gutter, and the top right corner torn away; both were made good before it was bound back in. The paper is stained and discoloured, apparently for the reason mentioned above.

Verso:

Inscribed by Turner in pen and brown ink ‘117 Harlech | Study for L^d Cooper’s Picture’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.