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

Turner circled Borthwick Castle making sketches from every direction in order to record each side of the castle and its topographical setting. As in folio 84 verso (D13725; CLXVII 76a) Turner turned the present page to the right and divided it horizontally into three sketches. The views are from the south and south-west and all look along the River Gore. At the top is a sketch of the southern façade of Borthwick Castle. The middle sketch shows the south-east corner of the castle with an arched bridge crossing the river in the foreground. Below is a sketch of the castle and bridge from further down the river with the west bank filling half of the picture at the left. The water bubbles around rocks in the foreground while at the left it flows ‘slow[ly]’ according to Turner’s inscription. There are further views of the castle form the south on folio 84 verso, and a study in the Scotland and London sketchbook (Tate D13814; Turner Bequest CLXX 1).