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 Dunbar 1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dunbar’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 51 Recto:
Dunbar 1831
D26013
Turner Bequest CCLXVII 51
Pencil on off-white wove writing paper, 113 x 185 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘51’ bottom left inverted and ‘271’ top left inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVII – 51’ top left inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Three sketches of Dunbar on this page were made from the vicinity of Dunbar Castle. Across the centre of the page, drawn with the sketchbook inverted, is a study of the remains of the castle gate with the town of Dunbar beyond. Turner had made a remarkably similar study in 1818 (Tate D13628; Turner Bequest CLXVII 25). There is another, slighter sketch of the same ruins below, and at the top of the page is a view west along the coast of Dunbar including the harbour at the left and the church at the right.
For more information on Turner’s visit to Dunbar in 1831 see folio 48 (D26008; CCLXVII 48).

Thomas Ardill
September 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Dunbar 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-dunbar-r1134383, accessed 25 April 2024.