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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sketches of Cliffs Near Fast Castle; and a Distant View of North Berwick Law 1822

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 80 Verso:
Sketches of Cliffs Near Fast Castle; and a Distant View of North Berwick Law 1822
D17649
Turner Bequest CC 80a
Pencil on white wove paper, 187 x 114 mm
Blindstamped with the Turner Bequest stamp bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned to the right are two sketches of cliffs on the East Lothian coast, and a small sketch at the top of the page of a view of North Berwick with North Berwick Law from the south-west. Turner made these as he travelled by sea from Edinburgh to London (see folio 78 verso; D17645 for details). Judging by the order of sketches that chart the journey south, with images of St Abbs Head following in the sketchbook (folios 81 and 81 verso; D17650, D17651), and by the height of the cliffs, this are likely to be the coastline between Fast Castle (see folio 5; D17516) and St Abbs. A building at the far right of the upper sketch may be Fast Castle.

Thomas Ardill
August 2008

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Sketches of Cliffs Near Fast Castle; and a Distant View of North Berwick Law 1822 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 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-sketches-of-cliffs-near-fast-castle-and-a-distant-view-of-r1132990, accessed 19 September 2024.