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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Scotland 1801-10 > Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Trees, with a Distant View of ?Edinburgh Castle 1801

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trees, with a Distant View of ?Edinburgh Castle’ 1801
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 31 Verso:
Trees, with a Distant View of ?Edinburgh Castle 1801
D02856
Turner Bequest LV 31a
Pencil on white wove paper, 127 x 195 mm
Partial watermark ‘W E’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This slight drawing was made with the pages turned horizontally, and is continued on folio 32 recto opposite (D02857). It is difficult to decipher. The distant rectangular building is likely to be Edinburgh Castle, but the tower in the mid-distance is more puzzling; it may be rapid shorthand for the rotunda at St Bernard’s Well (see folios 19 verso–20 recto and 21 verso–22 recto; D02836–D02837, D02840–D02841).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Trees, with a Distant View of ?Edinburgh Castle 1801 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-trees-with-a-distant-view-of-edinburgh-castle-r1179046, accessed 25 April 2024.