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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Staffa Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Gylen Castle, Kerrera from the West 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Gylen Castle, Kerrera from the West’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 67 Recto:
Gylen Castle, Kerrera from the West 1831
D26872
Turner Bequest CCLXXIII 67
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 186 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘67’ top left running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXIII 67’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch is one of Turner’s four close-up sketches of Gylen Castle on Kerrera as seen from the west: folios 66–67 verso (D26870–D26873). Having sketched the castle from the same height on folio 67 verso, he then descended the cliffs a little way towards the bay of Port a’ Chaisteil to make the present sketch looking up the cliff-face to the castle ruin. To the right is the Firth of Lorn with the coast of Argyll in the distance. While Turner has not drawn the ruin or rocks in much detail, he has taken time with this sketch to draw clouds and add shading. His next view on folio 66 verso was made from a little further down the cliff.
For further information on Turner’s sketches of Gylen Castle, see folio 73 verso (D26885).

Thomas Ardill
February 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Gylen Castle, Kerrera from the West 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2010, 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-gylen-castle-kerrera-from-the-west-r1135229, accessed 26 April 2024.