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 > Edinburgh, 1818, Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Views of Firth of Forth from Calton Hill 1818

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Views of Firth of Forth from Calton Hill’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Recto:
Two Views of Firth of Forth from Calton Hill 1818
D13529
Turner Bequest CLXVI 41
Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 112 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘ash’ bottom left
Stamped in black ‘CLXVI 41’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
On this page are two sketches of the view from Edinburgh’s Calton Hill looking north across the city and out to the Firth of Forth. The bottom sketch shows the view towards the island of Inchkeith near Leith on the opposite page (folio 40 verso; D13528) with the view across Edinburgh on the present page with several churches in the foreground seen from the path that runs along the north side of the hill. The inscription ‘ash’ refers to trees along the slopes of the hill. Beyond is the Fife shore of the Firth of Forth.
The sketch at the top of the page (which continues just slightly on folio 40 verso) may look towards the town of Burntisland with the volcanic plug called The Binn rising above it. A sketch by Turner in the King’s Visit to Edinburgh sketchbook 1822 also shows the view from Calton Hill with Burntisland in the distance (Tate D17563; Turner Bequest CC 35a).

Thomas Ardill
July 2008

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Two Views of Firth of Forth from Calton Hill 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2008, 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-two-views-of-firth-of-forth-from-calton-hill-r1132074, accessed 20 September 2024.