Joseph Mallord William Turner

Linlithgow Palace and St Michael’s Church

1818

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Scotch Antiquities Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 112 × 186 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D13660
Turner Bequest CLXVII 43 a

Catalogue entry

The north-east corner of St Michael’s Church continues from a sketch on folio 46 (D13661; CLXVII 44) of the east façade of Linlithgow Palace. Having sketched this corner of the church in detail on folios 43 verso–44 (D13656–D13657; CLXVII 41a–42), Turner did not continue the sketch beyond a single buttress, although this was drawn in careful detail including the ornate niche and finial, and he again included a figure at the base of the buttress to demonstrate its scale. The whole sketch was used as the basis of a watercolour study (D25325, CCLXIII 203) which Turner seems to have been considering as an alternative to the distance view of Linlithgow Palace (Manchester City Art Galleries) that he finally chose to illustrate for the Provincial Antiquities.1

There is very light foxing across the page.

Thomas Ardill
March 2008

Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.426 no.1068; the watercolour study was identified by Ian Warrell, see Shanes 1997, p.101 Appendix I under [CCLXIII] 203.

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