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 Calton Hill 1818

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Calton Hill’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 55 Verso:
Calton Hill 1818
D13418
Turner Bequest CLXV 53a
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Calton Hill is distinguishable by the tall column of Nelson’s Monument which is emphasised in the sketch as a black silhouette. This is one of several views of Edinburgh taken from the south, and was probably drawn from the foot of Salisbury Craigs. Indeed the shapes in the foreground are probably large boulders of rock from the hill. Calton Hill is shown in the shadow of a mass of clouds overhead, and there are more heavy clouds to the left of the picture. The building on the left may be the ruins of St Antony’s Chapel.

Thomas Ardill
November 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Calton Hill 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-calton-hill-r1131964, accessed 26 April 2024.