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 Doune Castle and the 'River Teith' from the South-West; and a Distant Town 1834

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Doune Castle and the 'River Teith' from the South-West; and a Distant Town’ 1834
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 65 Recto:
Doune Castle and the ‘River Teith’ from the South-West; and a Distant Town 1834
D26382
Turner Bequest CCLXIX 65
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 113 x 190 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘River Teith’ centre
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘65’ top right and ‘340’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIX 65’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan were the first to suggest that the ruin drawn across the top half of this page could be Doune Castle, though they had doubts about their identification, suggesting that the sketch ‘in only some respects resembles Doune.’1 In fact, the castle is a very close match for Doune, especially as it was in Turner’s day. Sketches on folios 53 and 63 (D26359, D26378) resemble the present view, and the identification is confirmed by Turner’s inscription, ‘River Teith’. This is therefore a view of Doune Castle from across the River Teith to the south-west. For references to further sketches of the castle, see folio 52 verso (D526358).
At the bottom of the page, drawn with the sketchbook inverted, is a view of a distant town, continuing at the right on folio 64 verso (D26381).

Thomas Ardill
November 2010

1
Wallace-Hadrill and Carolan 1990, Vol.10 No.2, p.30.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Doune Castle and the ‘River Teith’ from the South-West; and a Distant Town 1834 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-doune-castle-and-the-river-teith-from-the-south-west-and-a-r1136312, accessed 26 April 2024.