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 > Dynevor Castle Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dynevor Castle 1798

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dynevor Castle’ 1798 (Inside back cover of sketchbook)
Inside back cover of sketchbook
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Inside Back Cover:
Dynevor Castle 1798
D41423
Pencil on white laid paper, 95 x 135 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Dinevor | Dinevor Castle’ towards bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram right of centre
Inscribed by the Executors of the Turner Bequest, Henry Scott Trimmer, John Prescott Knight and Charles Lock Eastlake, in ink ‘No 380 _____ | 98 [‘leaves of’ inserted above] sketches in pencil | 1 leaf in colour | H.S. Trimmer’ and in pencil ‘JPK’ and ‘C.L.E.’ at right, descending vertically
Inscribed in pencil ‘XL’ bottom right, descending vertically
Inscribed by Arthur Magyer Hind in pencil ‘Rebound Nov 1934 | Extend binding ½ inch, guarding the leaves | A.M.H.’ at centre, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The outline sketch on this page is so slight that British Museum curator A.M. Hind saw fit to write his memorandum about the rebinding of the book across it. The executors of Turner’s estate had already occupied the available free space on the page, having little choice as to where to inscribe their endorsement, since the other end papers are taken up with closely written lists of places; see inside the front cover and the recto of the front flyleaf (D40752, D41434). It is nevertheless possible to confirm that the outline, which appears to have been made from a moving vehicle or horseback, does indeed represent Dynevor Castle, in the Tywi valley west of Llandeilo.
The reason for Turner’s double inscription, in two distinct scripts, is not obvious: perhaps one was made while moving, the other when he was stationary. Since this seems to be the only view of Dynevor in the sketchbook, the fact that it has given the book its name is somewhat anomalous. Dynevor is studied in more detail in the Hereford Court sketchbook (Tate D01272, D01275, D01276; Turner Bequest XXXVIII 22, 24a, 25), while in the present book drawings of neighbouring locations in the Tywi valley, at Llandeilo and Drwslwyn for example, are on folios 53 verso–54 recto and 54 verso–55 recto (D01548–D01551; Turner Bequest XL 51a–52, 52a–53).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Dynevor Castle 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-dynevor-castle-r1173863, accessed 25 April 2024.