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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Gylen Castle from the East-North-East, Kerrera 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Gylen Castle from the East-North-East, Kerrera’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 74 Recto:
Gylen Castle from the East-North-East, Kerrera 1831
D26886
Turner Bequest CCLXXIII 74
Pencil on white wove paper, 186 x 116 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘74’ top left running vertically, and ‘273’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXIII 74’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Gylen Castle is seen here from close by to the east-north-east. The castle stands on a rock on a headland at the south of the island of Kerrera, and Turner must have stood on that rock to make this sketch. The rocky coastline of the island is seen in the foreground at the left and right with the Firth of Lorn beyond, and the coasts of Argyll at the left and Mull at the right. This is one of four views from the north (folios 74–75 verso; D26886–D26889), but it is Turner’s most fully realised sketch of the castle and its surrounding topography.
For further information on Turner’s sketches of the castle, see folio 73 verso (D26885) where he made two detailed studies. Other views are on folios 63 verso–75 verso (D26865–D26889).

Thomas Ardill
February 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Gylen Castle from the East-North-East, Kerrera 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2010, 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-gylen-castle-from-the-east-north-east-kerrera-r1135243, accessed 27 April 2024.