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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North Wales 1799-1801 > Dolbadarn Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dolbadarn Castle Seen from Below 1799

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dolbadarn Castle Seen from Below’ 1799
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Recto:
Dolbadarn Castle Seen from Below 1799
D02054
Turner Bequest XLVI 41
Pencil on white wove paper prepared with a pale blue-grey ground, 79 x 130 mm
Watermark ‘1794 | J Whatman’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘41’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XLVI – 41’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is the viewpoint, looking up to the ruins of Dolbadarn from below, that Turner was to adopt for his Diploma oil painting for the Royal Academy collection, Dolbadern Castle, North Wales, exhibited at the Academy in 1800.1 Dramatic as it is, it does not exaggerate or distort the topography as do the sketches on folios 38 verso–39 recto and 40 verso opposite (D02049–D02050, D02053). Turner has positioned himself immediately below the ruined tower at the base of the low spur on which it stands.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

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).

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Dolbadarn Castle Seen from Below 1799 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-dolbadarn-castle-seen-from-below-r1179913, accessed 25 April 2024.