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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales and Isle of Wight 1795-1800 > South Wales Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Laugharne Castle from the South West 1795

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Laugharne Castle from the South West’ 1795
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 20 Recto:
Laugharne Castle from the South West 1795
D00572
Turner Bequest XXVI 19
Pencil on white wove paper, 203 x 264 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘1 B Grey | 2 Grey | 3 W Grey | 4 D[?] Sap Green Waves [Finberg 1909: ‘Water’] top right, ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’ and ‘4’ within the drawing, and ‘19’ bottom right, descending vertically
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘XXVI 19’ bottom left, descending vertically
The inscription on the verso indicates that Turner had received a commission for a watercolour based on this drawing from Alexander Pope (1763–1835), a miniature painter who seems to have been an occasional patron in these years. That work was either never executed or has not survived. The same drawing was later used for the England and Wales watercolour (Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio)1 engraved in 1833.
The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally.
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.399 no.848, reproduced.
Verso:
Inscribed in pencil, ‘A Pope Esq’; and by Ruskin in red ink ‘803 | 176 Inv’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.
Alexander Pope was a miniature painter who seems to have commissioned several watercolours from Turner in the 1790s. He registered an interest in the subject on the recto of this leaf, Laugharne Castle, and in Turner’s drawing of North Shore, Tenby; see folio 23 recto (Tate D00575; Turner Bequest XXVI 22) of this book, and his name is noted on the verso of a more elaborate version of the same subject, Tate D00690 (Turner Bequest XXVIII E). In 1797 he figured in the Hereford Court sketchbook as having asked for views of Ludlow and Conway; see Tate D01261, D01304 and D01351 (Turner Bequest XXXVIII 11a, 50a, 97).

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Laugharne Castle from the South West 1795 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-laugharne-castle-from-the-south-west-r1140899, accessed 19 April 2024.