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

Following Turner’s progress around Linlithgow Palace by turning the pages of this sketchbook reveals how the artist made a circuit of the palace clockwise from nearby to the east (folio 46; D13661; CLXVII 44), round to the south-west (folio 50; D13669; CLXVII 48), around Linlithgow Loch to the west (folio 53; D13673; CLXVII 50), north-west, and finally north and north-east (folio 56 verso; D13680; CLXVII 53a). He then returned to the palace to make more sketches of the architecture from close up (folios 57 and 58; D13681, D13682; CLXVII 54 and 55).

The present page is one of two sketches of the palace and St Michael’s Church from across the loch to the north-west. Here Turner stands on a bank and looks through the trees to draw the north and west sides of the castle, with the tower of St Michael’s to its right, and the Town House of Linlithgow beyond that (see folio 52; D13663; CLXVII 45b). There is another view from the north-west on folio 55 (D13677; CLXVII 52), which was made from further down the bank.