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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > George IV’s visit to Edinburgh 1822 > King's Visit to Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Views of Robin Hood's Bay, Whitby, and Bamburgh Castle 1822

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Views of Robin Hood's Bay, Whitby, and Bamburgh Castle’ 1822
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 87 Recto:
Views of Robin Hood’s Bay, Whitby, and Bamburgh Castle 1822
D17662
Turner Bequest CC 87
Pencil on white wove paper, 187 x 114 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ?‘Mul’ top left, ‘Robin Hood Bay’ top right, ‘Whitby’ lower centre
Stamped in black ‘CC 87’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned to the left are various views along the North Yorkshire coast, made as Turner travelled south by sea from Edinburgh to London (see folio 78; D17644). The top three are, as the inscription indicates, around ‘Robin Hood’s Bay’. The top sketch shows the coast from the town at the left to the headland of Ness Point at the right. Beneath this are two further sketches of the cliffs nearby. The second sketch includes a sailing boat travelling south along the coast, a small, dark shape at the bottom that may be a bird taking off or landing on the water (see folio 88; D18664), and an inscription on the cliffs that may read ‘grass.’
The forth and fifth sketches down the page are both of ‘Whitby’ from the east. St Hilda’s Abbey is shown in the lower sketch and both drawings shows the stack of Saltwick Nabb just to the east of the town. At the bottom of the page is a view of Bamburgh Castle from the north-west as in folio 86 (D17660).
A small tear at the top right of the page has been repaired.

Thomas Ardill
August 2008

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Views of Robin Hood’s Bay, Whitby, and Bamburgh Castle 1822 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 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-views-of-robin-hoods-bay-whitby-and-bamburgh-castle-r1133003, accessed 19 April 2024.