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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > County Durham and Northumberland 1817 > Durham, North Shore, Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Auckland Castle and the Deer Shelter, Bishop Auckland, across the River Gaunless 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Auckland Castle and the Deer Shelter, Bishop Auckland, across the River Gaunless’ 1817
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 24 Recto:
Auckland Castle and the Deer Shelter, Bishop Auckland, across the River Gaunless 1817
D12349
Turner Bequest CLVII 24
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 185 mm
Part watermark ‘atman | 14’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘24’ bottom right (now very faint)
Stamped in black ‘CLVII – 24’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s viewpoint is the east bank of the River Gaunless, looking west across it to Auckland Castle (with St Peter’s Chapel on the right), and north-west to the Gothic Revival deer shelter, with Weardale beyond; the foreground is now extensively wooded. The large, stone shelter was built in 1760, perhaps to designs by Thomas Wright (1711–1786), and includes rooms for picnicking hunting parties. Stylistically, it echoes some of the features of the nearby castle.1
The drawing continues a little to the left on folio 23 verso (D12348). It is one in a sequence of views between folios 21 verso and 27 recto (D12345–D12354), following the course of the Gaunless from south to north anti-clockwise around the castle towards the River Wear. For the history of the castle, see the entry for folio 22 recto (D12346).

Matthew Imms
February 2010

1
[Sarah Yates (ed.)], Heritage Unlocked: Guide to Free [English Heritage] Sites in Yorkshire & the North East, London 2004, pp.52–.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Auckland Castle and the Deer Shelter, Bishop Auckland, across the River Gaunless 1817 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-auckland-castle-and-the-deer-shelter-bishop-auckland-across-r1139350, accessed 21 September 2024.