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 > Scotch Antiquities Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Tantallon Castle 1818

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Tantallon Castle’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 13 Recto:
Tantallon Castle 1818
D13606
Turner Bequest CLXVII 12
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 186 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Wall’ bottom right
Inscribed in blue ink ‘12’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXVII 12’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch shows Tantallon Castle from the landward side. An inscription at the bottom right either refers to the Curtain ‘Wall’ or what remains of an outer wall of the castle which, along with a ditch (visible in the foreground), comprised its defences to the west; the other three sides being protected by the sea. In the centre of the structure is the half-cylindrical Fore Tower. Turner sketched Tantallon Castle from all sides in preparation for his Provincial Antiquities illustration, Tantallon Castle, 1821 (watercolour, Manchester City Art Galleries),1 including drawings on the previous and subsequent pages of this sketchbook of views from the east (folio 12; D13605; CLXVII 11) and from the north-west (folio 13 verso–14; D13607–D13608; CLXVII 12a–13).

Thomas Ardill
February 2008

1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.426 no.1067.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Tantallon Castle 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2008, 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-tantallon-castle-r1132154, accessed 16 April 2024.