Joseph Mallord William Turner

These are isolated studies of mounted huntsmen, dogs and horses’ legs for Turner’s watercolour of Raby Castle (currently untraced),1 engraved in 1820 for Surtees’s History of Durham, as discussed in the introduction to the tour and in the entry for folio 24 recto (D12282; Turner Bequest CLVI 13a), a rough study for the overall composition. The gesture and stance of the horse and rider at the bottom left are followed closely in the watercolour,2 but in reverse. As on folio 24 recto, the dogs are shown as a blur of lively, expressive strokes as they mill around the horses.

There are further studies on folio 28 recto (D12280; CLVI 12a), the entry for which also discusses a related sheet in a private collection; studies elsewhere are noted under folio 24 recto. As now bound and foliated, sketches of the castle and its surroundings fill most of the second half of the sketchbook, from folio 17 recto (D12298; CLVI 22a) to folio 32 recto (D12309; CLVI 28).