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 Brancepeth Castle 1817

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Brancepeth Castle’ 1817
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 75 Verso:
Brancepeth Castle 1817
D12412
Turner Bequest CLVII 75a
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 185 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The loose receding lines in the foreground here indicate the track approaching Brancepeth Castle, south-west of Durham, from the east, rather than the river that Finberg suggests. There is a sketch from nearer to the building on folio 74 verso (D12410) and other views on folios 15 recto and 16 recto (D12335, D12336).
The towers seen between the trees towards the left were replaced soon after Turner’s visit by a prominent gatehouse block, but the distinctive watchtower to the right, on the northern corner of the curtain wall, survives. For the general history and situation of the castle, see the entries for D12335 and D12410.

Matthew Imms
February 2010

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Brancepeth Castle 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-brancepeth-castle-r1139413, accessed 26 April 2024.