Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner studied Edinburgh Castle from all sides and made sketches from close to showing the architecture and shape of the crag on which it stands, as well as drawing it from the outskirts of the city, showing the landscape within which it stands. This view of the ‘Castle from the West’, is taken from close to, and as a consequence shows much more of the Castle Rock than the buildings of the castle itself. Turner made a similar study a few pages earlier in this sketchbook (folio 66 verso; D13440; CLXV 64a), though from the north-west. The turret in the centre of folio 66 verso is therefore at the far left of the drawing on this page. The buildings shown are, on the left, the cart sheds, and, on the right, the Ordnance Stores.