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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Autumn Tour of Northern France 1845 > Dieppe Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dieppe Castle 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dieppe Castle’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 18 Recto:
Dieppe Castle 1845
D35477
Turner Bequest CCCLX 19
Pencil, gouache and watercolour on white wove paper, 232 x 332 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘19’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLX 19’ bottom right, as ‘The Castle’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In this sketch, Turner takes in the western side of Dieppe Castle as viewed from the top of the chalk cliffs west of the harbour. Distinctions in colour have been made between the different elements of the structure and its terrain. The approach bridge, the tall southern tower, and its cliff-top footing are picked out in various shades of rose while the bulk of the castle is washed over in a single shade of light ochre.1 In the background, Dieppe’s plane unfolds to terminate, beneath a fresh blue sky, in vast the easterly chalk cliffs.
1
For the castle’s history, see Claude Féron, Dieppe, Paris 1981, pp.22–3.
Verso:
Blank; except for an upside-down ‘5’ inscribed in faint red ink at the top left of the page.

John Chu
February 2014

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Dieppe Castle 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-dieppe-castle-r1173573, accessed 24 April 2024.