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 > Scotch Antiquities Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dunbar Castle 1818

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dunbar Castle’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 19 Recto:
Dunbar Castle 1818
D13616
Turner Bequest CLXVII 18
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 186 mm
Inscribed in blue ink ‘18’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXVII 18’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Continued from folio 18 verso (D13615; CLXVII 17a) is a view of the ruins of Dunbar Castle from the shore to the west. The castle sits on a rocky promontory and the few remains are hard to distinguish from the rocks upon which they sit, although the parts of the castle described by Scott as the ‘Gate’ (two part tower structure) and ‘South Battery’ (low building at the right) can be made out.1 The following sketch (19 verso–20; D13617–D13618; CLXVII 18a–19) shows another view of the castle from a little further away, revealing more of the promontory. (See folio 18 verso; D13615; CLXVII 17a, for more information on the sketches of Dunbar in this sketchbook).

Thomas Ardill
February 2008

1
Sir Walter Scott, Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland with descriptive illustrations by Sir Walter Scott, Bart., Vol.II, London and Edinburgh, 1826 p.[147].

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Dunbar Castle 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 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-dunbar-castle-r1132164, accessed 25 April 2024.