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 and Yorkshire 1814-17 > Devon Rivers, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Elevations of Lydford Castle 1814

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Elevations of Lydford Castle’ 1814
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Verso:
Elevations of Lydford Castle 1814
D40824
Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 152 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘N’, ‘W’, ‘S’ and ‘E’ respectively under each side of the building, left to right along top of page
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These diagrammatic notations of the fenestration of the four sides of Lydford Castle were not recorded in Finberg’s Inventory.1 In fact, the corners rather than the sides of the keep are aligned with the cardinal points, so Turner’s ‘N’, ‘W’, ‘S’ and ‘E’ views are actually of the north-west, south-west, south-east and north-east fronts respectively. Parts of the regular crenellation have since been lost. For other views around Lydford, see under folio 28 recto (D09510).

Matthew Imms
June 2014

1
See A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.373.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Elevations of Lydford Castle 1814 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-elevations-of-lydford-castle-r1147070, accessed 26 April 2024.