Joseph Mallord William Turner

Norham Castle: Colour Study

c.1798

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On loan

Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, USA): Turner Watercolours

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium: Graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 662 x 838 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D02343
Turner Bequest L B

Display caption

As part of the process of painting the view of Norham that he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1798 (no.41), Turner executed two large studies (nos.39 and 40), in which he set out the composition and experimented with alternative light effects. The backs of these sheets are prepared with washes of different pigments, and it seems that he was exploring the possibilities of achieving a suffused back lighting of the kind then popular in the fashion for transparencies.

Gallery label, September 2004

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