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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Tour of Yorkshire 1816 > Yorkshire 6 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Castle among Trees c.1816

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Castle among Trees’ c.1816
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 2 Recto:
A Castle among Trees c.1816
D11597
Turner Bequest CXLIX 2
Pencil on white wove paper, 93 x 149 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil with several colour notes on the drawing and in the page gutter, including ‘Light yellow yet cold clouds’
Inscribed ?by John Ruskin in red ink ‘2’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXLIX 2’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is the first of seventeen sketches extending to D11613; Turner Bequest CXLIX 18 recording scenes mostly by a river in the vicinity of a large building or castle (compare folios 4 recto and 7 recto; D11599, D11602) and a long many-arched medieval bridge (folio 17 recto; D11612). Some of the sketches concentrate on dramatic cloud and sky effects, and a few record small boats or skiffs carrying soldiers. The locality has not been identified, but is probably not in Yorkshire. An inscription on D11612 offers the strongest clue, and the river-borne soldiers in some sketches would suggest the proximity of a garrison or naval town. The series appears later than the Yorkshire material in this sketchbook (see Introduction) and might not even belong to the same year.
Verso:
Blank

David Hill
October 2008

How to cite

David Hill, ‘A Castle among Trees c.1816 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-castle-among-trees-r1143742, accessed 20 April 2024.