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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Caerlaverock Castle 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Caerlaverock Castle’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 50 Verso:
Caerlaverock Castle 1831
D25860
Turner Bequest CCLXVI 50a
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 187 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch depicts the north-east corner of Caerlaverock Castle, and echoes the north-west view on folio 49 verso (D25858). However, the eastern curtain wall on this side is much less complete than the western wall, and only the base of the south-east tower still stands. Turner has shaded part of the nearest tower to emphasise its cylindrical shape, with the light coming from the west in this sketch and in Turner’s watercolour: Caerlaverock Castle circa 1832 (Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums),1 which also shows the moon and its reflection in the mouth of the River Nith in the distance. This suggests that Turner visited Caerlaverock in the early evening. Above the main sketch is an outline of some of the buildings inside the castle seen above the east curtain wall.

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.428 no.1076.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Caerlaverock Castle 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2009, 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-caerlaverock-castle-r1134227, accessed 27 April 2024.