Joseph Mallord William Turner Edinburgh from Calton Hill 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 42 Recto:
Edinburgh from Calton Hill 1818
D13652
Turner Bequest CLXVII 40
Turner Bequest CLXVII 40
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 186 mm
Inscribed in blue ink ‘40’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXVII 40’ bottom right
Inscribed in blue ink ‘40’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXVII 40’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.486, CLXVII 40, as ‘Edinburgh, from the Calton Hill. See Engraving in part IV. of Scott’s “Antiquities.”’.
1910
Alexander J. Finberg, Turner’s Sketches and Drawings, London 1910, pp.107–8, plate 60 opposite p.106.
1974
Gerald Wilkinson, The Sketches of Turner, R.A. 1802–20: Genius of the Romantic, London 1974, p.178 reproduced.
1974
Martin Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London 1974, cat.204.
1979
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.426 under cat.1062.
1983
Timothy Clifford, J.M.W. Turner: Aquarelles de la City Art Gallery, Manchester, exhibition catalogue, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux 1983, p.38 under cat.10a.
1985
Timothy Clifford and Shuji Yashiro, Turner at Manchester, exhibition catalogue, Odakyu Grand Gallery, Tokyo 1985, p.[47] cat.10.
1990
Diane Perkins, The Third Decade: Turner Watercolours 1810–1820, exhibition catalogue, Clore Gallery, Tate Gallery, London 1990, p.45 cat.54 reproduced.
1997
Charles Nugent and Melva Croal, Turner Watercolors from Manchester, exhibition catalogue, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis 1997, p.6 under cat.33.
1999
Katrina Thomson, Turner and Sir Walter Scott: The Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh 1999, pp. 26–7, 31, 85, reproduced p.27 fig.8.
2000
Turner Society News, no.85 August 2000, p.12.
Continued from folio 41 verso and continuing on to folio 43 (D13151, D13654; CLXVII 39a, 41) this view formed the basis of Turner’s watercolour design for the Provincial Antiquities of Scotland: Edinburgh from Calton Hill, circa 1819 (National Gallery of Scotland).1 The present page looks south-west towards Edinburgh Castle across the Old Town on the left and the Georgian New Town on the right, which are connected by the old North Bridge, seen at the left of the page continuing onto folio 41 verso. Calton Hill itself can be seen at the bottom of the page with the houses of Waterloo Place in the right foreground and Regent Bridge, built since Turner had last visited the capital in 1801 to connect Calton Hill with Princes Street, in the bottom left (folio 36; D13643; CLXVII 34). Towards the top right of the page are the pointed spire of St Cuthbert’s Church, the square steeple of the Church of St John the Evangelist (Tate D13462; Turner Bequest CLXVI 7a) to its right, and in front of this the dome of the Register House. The New Town continued slightly onto the right of folio 43; Turner must have peeled back the current page in order to extend the drawing to the right on that page. The Old Town is shown to the left on folio 41 verso with the spire of St Giles’s Cathedral (see folio 40 recto; D13649; CLXVII 38) as the most distinctive landmark. The bottom half of that page is dominated by the massive Calton Gaol, of which only the castellated Governor’s House now remains.
Thomas Ardill
March 2008
How to cite
Thomas Ardill, ‘Edinburgh from Calton Hill 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www