Joseph Mallord William Turner

?Peak Cavern, Castleton; Sketch Map of the Peak District; with Inscription by Turner: ?A Draft of Poetry

?1831

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Worcester and Shrewsbury Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 114 x 191 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D22186
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 20 a

Catalogue entry

This slight sketch appears to show the inside of a cave, perhaps Peak Cavern below Peveril Castle at Castleton, as seen on adjacent pages. For other views of the castle, village and cave, see under folio 1 verso (D22152).

At the top left are four hastily written lines and a further word or two of effectively illegible prose or verse; only the occasional letter or short word such as ‘self’ and ‘and’ can be made out, although the first two words may be ‘Lo Twilight’ (or ‘Twylight’ as Turner has it elsewhere), which would indicate a further variation on the scraps of verse concerning the Evening Star scattered through this sketchbook and discussed under folio 71 recto (D22279).

At the bottom right the word ‘Sheffield’ appears, inverted relative to the main inscription and sketch, in a slight continuation of the sketch map of the Peak District on folio 21 recto opposite (D22187).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

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