Joseph Mallord William Turner

In this writer’s opinion, Turner visited Skipton at both the beginning and the end of his tour of 1816, on 17 July and 11 August. The orientation of this sketch, inverted in relation to the main sequence of subjects in the sketchbook, suggests that it was made at the end of the tour. It was almost certainly the last to have been entered in the book and probably the last to be made on the whole tour.

Skipton Castle began life as a Norman fort built in 1090, but assumed its present grandeur under the Clifford family after 1310. Similar views of Skipton occur in the Yorkshire 2 sketchbook (Tate D11064–D11063; Turner Bequest CXLV 15–14a), which Turner used on the same tour.