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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales 1798 > North Wales Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Criccieth: The Castle from the West 1798

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Criccieth: The Castle from the West’ 1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 23 Recto:
Criccieth: The Castle from the West 1798
D01378
Turner Bequest XXXIX 23
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 170 x 266 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘23’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXIX 23’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner seems to have used this broad outline of the castle ruins and steep cliff, drawn with the page turned horizontally, as the basis for his watercolour of Criccieth (British Museum, London)1 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales, engraved as Crickieth [sic] Castle, North Wales in 1837 (Tate impressions: T04610, T06126). In the process of developing the initial idea he effectively reversed the relationship between sea and land so that, whereas here the waters of what is now Tremadog Bay are to the right, in the finished view open sea is implied to the left. Drawings of Criccieth on folios 24 recto and 25 recto (D01379, D01380) were no doubt also called in aid.
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.402 no.876, reproduced.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Criccieth: The Castle from the West 1798 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-criccieth-the-castle-from-the-west-r1173605, accessed 27 April 2024.