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 Looking North Towards Edinburgh with Distant Hills Beyond 1818

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Looking North Towards Edinburgh with Distant Hills Beyond’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 45 Recto:
Looking North Towards Edinburgh with Distant Hills Beyond 1818
D13401
Turner Bequest CLXV 45
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
Stamped in black ‘CLXV 45’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Considering that this sketch is on the verso of a page showing Edinburgh from Craiglockhart to the south (folio 44 verso; D13400; CLXV 44a), and considering the shape of the hill in the centre and the distance hills to the left, this sketch is likely to show Castle Rock with the Grampians in the distance as seen from the south, perhaps from Craiglockhart or the Braid Hills. The serpentine line leading into the distance may show the Water of Leith. Turner has compressed the landscape horizontally to bring the castle and the distant mountains closer together, and to make a more compact composition. Folio 45 verso (D13402; CLXV 45a) was taken from the same spot or nearby and shows Edinburgh Castle again with the western edge of Arthur’s Seat to the right.

Thomas Ardill
November 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Looking North Towards Edinburgh with Distant Hills Beyond 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-looking-north-towards-edinburgh-with-distant-hills-beyond-r1131943, accessed 19 April 2024.