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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Abbotsford Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Hailes Castle with Traprain Law, Near East Linton 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Hailes Castle with Traprain Law, Near East Linton’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 47 Verso:
Hailes Castle with Traprain Law, Near East Linton 1831
D26007
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 47a
Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 113 x 185 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This view of Hailes Castle was made from across the River Tyne directly to the north of the structure. The western tower at the right of the castle is the most intact part of the building, with the central north range to its left which was converted into a dovecot, and the ruins of the east range at the very left.1 Beyond the castle about two thirds of a mile to the south lies Traprain Law, the site of an ancient hill fort.
Turner made half a dozen sketches of the castle scattered throughout the Abbotsford sketchbook (see folio 24 verso; Tate D25971; CCLXVII 24a), including another rough sketch from the north on folio 80 (D26072; CCLXVII 82). There is a tiny sketch of a similar view on the inside back cover of the Berwick sketchbook (1831) (Tate D41234).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

1
‘Hailes Castle’, Undiscovered Scotland, accessed 22 July 2009, http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastlinton/hailescastle/index.html.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Hailes Castle with Traprain Law, Near East Linton 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-hailes-castle-with-traprain-law-near-east-linton-r1134377, accessed 20 September 2024.