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 > Bass Rock and Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bass Rock Fortifications 1818

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bass Rock Fortifications’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 19 Recto:
Bass Rock Fortifications 1818
D13356
Turner Bequest CLXV 19
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
Stamped in black ‘CLXV 19’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These ‘ruins’ as Finberg describes them, 1 are probably the fortifications on the Bass Rock, drawn several times in this sketchbook (folios 7 verso, 8; D13334, D13335; CLXV 7a–8). In all of these sketches Turner uses a set of box-shapes for the fortifications and shows the steps that have been carved out of the rock to reach the sea. A few faint lines above these details is enough to indicate the rest of the island.
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.479, CLXV 19.
Verso:
Blank

Thomas Ardill
October 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Bass Rock Fortifications 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2007, 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-bass-rock-fortifications-r1131898, accessed 20 April 2024.