Stirling Castle

1831 and 1834

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Stirling and the West Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 125 x 201 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D26455
Turner Bequest CCLXX 10 a

Catalogue entry

This view of Stirling Castle was made from the bank of the River Forth to the north-east. The Castle Rock looms above the town at the centre of the sketch, with the tower of the Parish Church of the Holy Rude to the left (see folio 8; D26450). Above this is a separate sketch of part of the castle, again with the church tower. In the foreground at the right is part of the Old Bridge with its two end turrets. To the left of the old bridge is the faint outline of what looks like another bridge arch. If this is the case then it must be Stirling’s New Bridge, which was not completed until 1833. Along with another view of the New Bridge on folio 15 verso (D26465), this raises the possibility that some of the sketches of Stirling in this book may have been made in 1834, although it is perhaps more likely that they were all executed in 1831, and that Turner added the second bridge after seeing it in 1834. There is a view from the north side of the bridge on folio 11 (D26456).

For more information on Turner’s visits to Stirling see folio 13 (D26460).

Thomas Ardill
June 2010

Read full Catalogue entry