J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

Here Turner has rendered studies of Arundel and its Castle in West Sussex. The ancient seat of the Dukes of Norfolk, Arundel Castle overlooks the town and the Arun Valley from atop a ninth-century motte. The lowermost view is executed summarily, and shows the Castle with Church of St Nicholas to its left. Towards top right is a thumbnail jotting of Arundel with the post mill on the banks of the Arun and an inscription reading ‘EH of [?Rainbow]’. This vivid optical phenomenon appears in Turner’s watercolour design Arundel Castle on the River Arun, with a Rainbow, produced for W.B. Cooke’s Rivers of England print project (Tate D18139; Turner Bequest CCVIII F).1 The final sketch, which continues onto the folio opposite (Tate D18438; Turner Bequest CCX 73), is a detailed study of the Castle’s southerly axis and Banqueting Hall (see Tate D18436; Turner Bequest CCX 72). Turner has inscribed ‘yellow’ on the masonry below the crenellations.

For other sketches of Arundel Castle in this book see Tate D18419–D18461; Turner Bequest CCX 63–84a. See also Tate D22819–D22820, D22847–D22848, D22881–D22884, D22887, D22900–D22901, D22936, D23002–D23010; Turner Bequest CCXLV 21a–22, 38a–39, 60a–62, 63a, 70a–71, CCXLVI 22, 86a–91.