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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Calton Hill 1818

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 59 Recto:
Calton Hill 1818
D13425
Turner Bequest CLXV 57
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Pink light and all [...] by | warm’ top, and ‘Calton Hill the | High [...] and [?]the castle’ right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turning to his right from where he stood on Arthur’s Seat to draw the view on folio 58 verso (Tate D13424; Turner Bequest CLXV 56a), Turner looks towards Calton Hill with the clearly depicted Nelson’s Monument and City Observatory on its summit. His inscriptions refer to the early evening autumnal light – ‘pink’ and ‘warm’ – and the subjects of his picture – ‘Calton Hill’ and ‘the Castle’ – which is just visible to the left, with North Bridge to its right connecting the Old Town to Princes Street in the New Town. Turner tried many different views of Edinburgh from the south, most of which include the castle and Calton Hill, and many also show the bridge.

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-r1131971, accessed 28 March 2024.