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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Scotland 1818-20 > Bass Rock and Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bass Rock from the South-West 1818

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bass Rock from the South-West’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 12 Verso:
Bass Rock from the South-West 1818
D13344
Turner Bequest CLXV 12a
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the page inverted, this sketch of the Bass Rock belongs to a series of four all very similar studies made in succession in this sketchbook (folios 11 verso, 12 and 13; D13342, D13343 and D13345; CLXV 11a, 12 and 13). They show the Bass Rock from the coast to the west and are all made with a rough outline. Variations in the shape of the rock over the four drawings suggest that Turner was either looking at the subject from slightly different viewpoints, or struggling to capture its shape as he saw it. A scribble to the left of the rock, may indicate clouds as in folios 11 verso and 35 (D13383; CLXV 35).

Thomas Ardill
October 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Bass Rock from the South-West 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2007, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-bass-rock-from-the-south-west-r1131886, accessed 25 April 2024.