Joseph Mallord William Turner

This view of Hermitage Castle from the south-east is similar to the sketch on folio 64 (D25887). Turner has used the Hermitage Water in the foreground to make the rather pastoral setting appear more wild and picturesque, contrasting the solidity of the castle with the fluidity of the water, and perhaps drawing an analogy between the castle ruins and the rugged rocks which both resist the forces of nature in the foreground. Turner painted a vignette of the subject to illustrate volume 4 of Sir Walter Scott’s Poetical Works: Hermitage Castle circa 1832 (watercolour, private collection).1 In this design Turner made the river into a prominent feature, and introduced dramatic, swirling clouds in the sky. The composition was based on folio 67 (D25893).