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 Dunbar Castle 1818

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dunbar Castle’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 27 Recto:
Dunbar Castle 1818
D13371
Turner Bequest CLXV 27
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
Stamped in black ‘CLXV 27’ bottom left descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This slight sketch of ruins is probably one of many drawings of Dunbar Castle (see Tour of Scotland 1818 Tour Introduction). The general wedge-shape descending to the right (when looking west) is similar to other depictions of the castle, and tallest tower shape has the two short parallel vertical dashes that Turner frequently used to indicate a window (or this case an arrow slot) in the same place as the castle.1
1
Andrew Wilton, Turner as Draughtsman, Aldershot 2006, p.76.
Verso:
Blank

Thomas Ardill
October 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Dunbar Castle 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-dunbar-castle-r1131913, accessed 02 August 2025.