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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Isle of Wight 1827 > The House and Grounds at East Cowes ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner East Cowes Castle from the South, with a Formal Pool and Statues in the Foreground 1827

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘East Cowes Castle from the South, with a Formal Pool and Statues in the Foreground’ 1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
East Cowes Castle from the South, with a Formal Pool and Statues in the Foreground 1827
D20840
Turner Bequest CCXXVII a 37
Chalk and ink on blue wove paper, 137 x 193 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘37’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXXVII(a) 37’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of two studies of a formal pool with urns and a large classical statue of a nude river goddess (perhaps representing the nearby Medina) in the grounds of East Cowes Castle, the towers of which are indicated in the background. A pool is marked south of the house in early Ordnance Survey maps, adjacent to what may be kitchen gardens. This and the companion drawing (Tate D20841; Turner Bequest CCXXVII a 38) show an elaborate setting with arcaded rustic screens of stone or perhaps trelliswork. The main statue is shown in both views but is unclear whether the forms to its right here indicate other statuary or visitors to the garden. Compare the view of one of the conservatories (D20850; CCXXVII a 47), including another large statue.
This is among dozens of blue paper studies made in and around East Cowes Castle, presumably during the same visit. For more on the various aspects of the house (demolished in about 1950), and its lost grounds as depicted by Turner, see the Introduction to this subsection.
Verso:
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Matthew Imms
November 2015

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘East Cowes Castle from the South, with a Formal Pool and Statues in the Foreground 1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-east-cowes-castle-from-the-south-with-a-formal-pool-and-r1182703, accessed 19 April 2024.