Catalogue entry
With the page divided from the top left to bottom right by a rough diagonal line, this page has been used for two sketches. The top shows Nelson’s Monument, newly erected on Calton Hill in Edinburgh and sketched by Turner numerous times in the
Bass Rock and Edinburgh sketchbook (see
Bass Rock and Edinburgh sketchbook Introduction and folio 59 in this sketchbook;
D13429). To the right of the structure Turner has made three sketches of details of the tower’s design.
Faint lines that may represent the outlines of foreground hills extend to the opposite page (folio 60;
D13565), where there is a sketch of Calton Gaol on Calton Hill which continues slightly to the lower right of the present page. Another sketch in the
Bass Rock and Edinburgh sketchbook (folio 60 verso;
D13432) shows a similar view of Nelson’s Monument and of Regent’s Road, and was presumably made on the same occasion as the present sketch.
The drawing at the bottom of the page shows Roslin Castle with Roslin Chapel to the right and bears a resemblance to several sketches in this book (folios 27a and 48 verso–49;
D13502 and
D13544–D13545), and to a sketch in the
Scotch Antiquities sketchbook from the north-west (Tate
D13717; Turner Bequest CLXVII 72a).
Thomas Ardill
January 2008
Read full Catalogue entry
