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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern France 1832 > Guernsey Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Vale Castle, Guernsey; Distant Coastlines ?1832

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Vale Castle, Guernsey; Distant Coastlines’ ?1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 51 Recto:
Vale Castle, Guernsey; Distant Coastlines ?1832
D23615
Turner Bequest CCLII 51
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 187 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Vaile Cas’ centre, ‘Sea’ towards bottom right, ‘Sark’ towards top right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘51’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLII – 51’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated, the largest, central sketch on this page depicts the medieval fortress of Vale Castle, Guernsey. Situated on a rocky outcrop north of St Sampson Harbour on the island’s east coast, the castle can be identified by the round towers that defend its curtain walls.1 A section of the defences has been sketched above the inscription ‘Sea’, towards the bottom right-hand corner of the page. The pencil marks on the right-hand edge of the page, inscribed with the name of Sark Island, continue over from another sketch of Vale Castle on recto 50 opposite (D23614; Turner Bequest CCLII 50a).

John Chu
April 2014

1
J.T. Cochrane, A Guide to the Island of Guernsey, , St Peter Port 1826, p.99.

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Vale Castle, Guernsey; Distant Coastlines ?1832 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, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-vale-castle-guernsey-distant-coastlines-r1175107, accessed 20 September 2024.