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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1811 > Corfe to Dartmouth Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Corfe Castle from East Hill 1811

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Corfe Castle from East Hill’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 5 Recto:
Corfe Castle from East Hill 1811
D08812
Turner Bequest CXXIV 5
Pencil on white wove paper, 170 x 209 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘CXXIV – 5’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s viewpoint is Sandy Hill Lane on the south side of East Hill, looking west to the castle and the village below it, with the lane dipping over the hill in the right foreground. The castle can still be seen from there but the view is otherwise somewhat altered. The Norden to Swanage railway runs along the lower slopes of East Hill on the near side of the valley, crossing on a bridge over the lane towards Corfe Castle station, beyond Turner’s composition to the left, and the left-hand side of his view is obscured by trees.1
There is a more distant view from further south on folio 6 (D08813), developed in more detail in the larger Somerset and North Devon sketchbook (Tate D08954; Turner Bequest CXXVI 8), and a closer view of the castle bridge and village on folio 9 recto (D08940; Turner Bequest CXXV 49, bound and stamped as CXXIV 9). For Turner’s other drawings of the castle and village, see the entry for folio 17 recto (D08826).
1
See modern photograph from a nearby, more elevated position in Hanley 1992, p.23 ‘Cat.16’.
Technical notes:
A slight darkening is evident across most of the sheet as a result of prolonged display, by contrast with the edges which were protected by a mount.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
February 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Corfe Castle from East Hill 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2011, 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-corfe-castle-from-east-hill-r1137295, accessed 26 April 2024.