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

The sketches on this page were made from the same vantage point on Calton Hill. At the outer edge of the page, drawn with the sketchbook turned to the left, is a sketch of some of the buildings and monuments on Calton Hill as seen from the west end. At the left is part of the Royal Observatory with the monument to John Playfield at its south-east corner to the right. In the centre of the sketch, a little further back is the unfinished National Monument, and framing the right side of the sketch is the tower of Nelson’s Monument.

The artist turned to the west for his next sketch which is the continuation from folio 79 (D26410) of the view towards Edinburgh with Dugald Stewart’s monument in the foreground. This half of the sketch shows Edinburgh’s New Town with the spire of St Andrew’s Church and the column and statue of the Melville monument. This is the most developed and finished of Turner’s six views of Edinburgh from Calton Hill in this sketchbook; see folio 79 verso (D26411) for further information and references.