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 Rocks off the Coast of Dunbar 1818

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Rocks off the Coast of Dunbar’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 54 Recto:
Rocks off the Coast of Dunbar 1818
D13415
Turner Bequest CLXV 52
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘R’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXV 52’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Sandwiched between drawings of Edinburgh in this sketchbook, this page has three sketches of rocks off the coast of Dunbar. Judging by the subject of the sketch on the following page (folio 55; D13417; CLXV 53), the distinctive double tower structure on the middle and bottom sketch, and the cylindrical shape on the top sketch, these may be the ruins of Dunbar Castle, dozens of views of which appear earlier in this sketchbook. The rocks at the bottom are inscribed ‘R’ which probably stands for their red colour.

Thomas Ardill
November 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Rocks off the Coast of Dunbar 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-rocks-off-the-coast-of-dunbar-r1131961, accessed 27 April 2024.