Joseph Mallord William Turner Houses at Antony Passage beside Forder Lake, with Trematon Castle Beyond 1813
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 43 Recto:
Houses at Antony Passage beside Forder Lake, with Trematon Castle Beyond 1813
D09263
Turner Bequest CXXXI 43
Turner Bequest CXXXI 43
Pencil on white wove paper, 95 x 157 mm
Part watermark ‘Mill | 812’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Shore’ towards bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘43’ bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXXI – 43’ bottom left, descending vertically
Part watermark ‘Mill | 812’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Shore’ towards bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘43’ bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXXI – 43’ bottom left, descending vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.367, CXXXI 43, as ‘Houses, with Trematon Castle in distance’.
1979
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Picturesque Views in England and Wales 1825–1838, London 1979, p.156.
1992
Anne Lyles, Turner: The Fifth Decade: Watercolours 1830–1840, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1992, p.51 under no.14.
The sketches between folio 36 recto (D09255) and here were made in the vicinity of Trematon Castle, above the St Germans or Lynher River west of the River Tamar and Plymouth. The subjects as far as folio 127 recto (D09358) are all identified or presumed sites within a few miles in and around Plymouth, suggesting a series of fairly short excursions. As noted in this sketchbook’s Introduction, local resident Mr Charles Nodder has used his knowledge of the area around Trematon Castle to write a privately circulated article discussing the relevant drawings in this sketchbook, after inspecting and discussing them with the present author,1 who is very grateful for his comments: he identifies these buildings, drawn with the page turned horizontally, as Heron Cottage on the left, and Mill Cottage (with the narrow gable end) in front of the tidal mill on Forder Lake in the middle distance.2 A later cottage now stands opposite Heron Cottage, while a prominent Great Western Railway bridge crosses Forder Lake beyond the mill.
Eric Shanes has noted that this sketch is the source for the watercolour Trematon Castle, Cornwall of about 1828 (currently untraced),3 engraved in 1830 for the series Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Tate impressions: T04563, T04564).4 The serene finished composition is actually somewhat confused, in that it appears to conflate and adapt sketches made in opposite directions, with the left-hand side based on the present work, looking north up Forder Lake to the castle, and the right taken from folio 42 recto (D09262), looking south down the lake from near the castle.5
Matthew Imms
April 2014
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘Houses at Antony Passage beside Forder Lake, with Trematon Castle Beyond 1813 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www