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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > History Painting c.1799-1807 > Studies for Pictures Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Castle on a Headland: Sunset c.1799-1802

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Castle on a Headland: Sunset’ c.1799-1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 101 Recto:
A Castle on a Headland: Sunset c.1799–1802
D04117
Turner Bequest LXIX 102
Pencil and coloured chalks on blue laid paper, 135 x 210 mm
Watermark: Strasburg lily (trimmed)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘102’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXIX-102’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Made with the page turned horizontally, this study is developed from the monochrome sketch on folio 2 recto (D03995). It probably shows Harlech Castle, and should be read in conjunction with the drawings on the immediately following leaves, which are studies in coloured chalks for another North Wales subject, the composition that became Dolbadern Castle, North Wales, shown at the Royal Academy in 1800 (Royal Academy of Arts, London).1 In the event Turner seems to have made relatively little use of his Harlech studies.
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.9–10 no.12, pl.7 (colour).
Technical notes:
An offset of this drawing is on the verso of folio 121 (D04139; Turner Bequest LXIX 122), indicating that the pages were once bound consecutively.
Verso:
Blank; slight offset from folio 102 recto opposite (D04118; Turner Bequest LXIX 103). There are also splashes of pinkish-brown gouache; compare folio 2 recto (D03995). Inscribed in pencil ‘772’.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Castle on a Headland: Sunset c.1799–1802 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 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-castle-on-a-headland-sunset-r1177995, accessed 26 April 2024.