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 > Scotch Lakes Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bonshaw Tower near Kirtlebridge, Dumfriesshire, with the Solway Firth in the Distance 1801

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bonshaw Tower near Kirtlebridge, Dumfriesshire, with the Solway Firth in the Distance’ 1801
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 175 Verso:
Bonshaw Tower near Kirtlebridge, Dumfriesshire, with the Solway Firth in the Distance 1801
D03253
Turner Bequest LVI 173a
Pencil on white wove paper, 184 x 114 mm
Partial watermark ‘C Wi | 17’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject is continued on folio 176 recto opposite (D03254; Turner Bequest LVI 174). Finberg thought that this was a view of Auchin Castle, on the assumption that it represented the same building as that on folios 173 verso–174 recto (D03249–D03250; Turner Bequest LVI 171a–172);1 see under D03249 for the explanation that Turner’s own identification is mistaken, and that the structure is actually Lochhouse Tower, drawn also on folios 174 verso–175 recto (D03251–D03252; Turner Bequest LVI 172a–173).
The tower shown in the present drawing must be yet another fortlet, since it stands in open country, whereas Lochhouse is surrounded by trees; it is moreover considerably larger and higher and its walls are intact. Its identity is apparent in another view of it, on folios 177 verso–178 recto (D03257–D03258; Turner Bequest LVI 175a–176), which includes the large Merkland Cross, close to Bonshaw Tower.
Further drawings of Bonshaw Tower are on folios 176 verso–180 recto (D03255–D03262; Turner Bequest LVI 174a–175, 175a–176, 176a–177, 177a–178). A three-storey towerhouse dating from the 1560s, it was the seat of the Irving clan, in whose possession it remains. D03255–D03246 shows a small dwelling next to it, which was enlarged into a substantial house in the early nineteenth century.
1
See Finberg 1909, I, p.150.
Technical notes:
An adventitious charcoal mark at the top right is offset on folio 176 recto opposite (D03254; Turner Bequest LVI 174)

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Bonshaw Tower near Kirtlebridge, Dumfriesshire, with the Solway Firth in the Distance 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-bonshaw-tower-near-kirtlebridge-dumfriesshire-with-the-r1179449, accessed 23 April 2024.