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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1811 > Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Three Views of Restormel Castle; ?the Tents of a Military Camp 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Three Views of Restormel Castle; ?the Tents of a Military Camp’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 210 Verso:
Three Views of Restormel Castle; ?the Tents of a Military Camp 1811
D08741
Turner Bequest CXXIII 207a
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At the top and bottom left are two views of the outer shell of Restormel Castle near Lostwithiel, with the projecting gateway on the west side of its drum-like circular keep; a third, smaller view is isolated at the top right by horizontal and vertical pencil lines. For other views see under folio 7 recto (D08374).
Across the centre of the page is a series of inverted ‘V’ shapes, which may be conical bell tents, possibly in a military encampment on open ground. There are similar silhouettes on folio 208 verso (D08738; CXXIII 205a). Given Turner’s somewhat random use of this sketchbook, the camp may not necessarily have been near Restormel, and may have been drawn at another stage on the tour.

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Three Views of Restormel Castle; ?the Tents of a Military Camp 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2011, 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-three-views-of-restormel-castle-the-tents-of-a-military-camp-r1137219, accessed 02 August 2025.