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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1834 > Stirling and Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Overlooking the River Nethan at Craignethan Castle, Lanarkshire 1834

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Overlooking the River Nethan at Craignethan Castle, Lanarkshire’ 1834
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 21 Recto:
Overlooking the River Nethan at Craignethan Castle, Lanarkshire 1834
D26299
Turner Bequest CCLXIX 21
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 113 x 190 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘pan’ bottom left
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘21’ top right and ‘340’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIX 21’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This may be the final sketch in a series of views made at Criagnethan Castle near Crossford in Lanarkshire. The clue is the small, gabled building in the foreground at the left of the sketch which appears to be the same structure that is seen in the foreground of a sketch on folio 19 verso (D26296). That sketch depicts Craignethan Castle as seen from the top of the gorge above the river to the south. As the building appears further to the left in this sketch and there is no sign of the castle we are probably looking east across the river. Another possibility is that the gable is part of the castle ruins. There is another ruin to the right which resembles one of the corner towers on the castle’s courtyard wall. This could therefore be a view from the castle itself, again looking east, or north-east across the river.
For further views of Craignethan Castle see folio 14 verso (D26286).

Thomas Ardill
October 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Overlooking the River Nethan at Craignethan Castle, Lanarkshire 1834 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 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-overlooking-the-river-nethan-at-craignethan-castle-r1136229, accessed 27 April 2024.