Joseph Mallord William Turner Lillebonne Castle ?1829
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 38 Recto:
Lillebonne Castle ?1829
D23772
Turner Bequest CCLIII 38
Turner Bequest CCLIII 38
Pencil on pale cream laid paper, 107 x 156 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘38’ top right ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLIII – 38’ top right ascending/ vertically
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘38’ top right ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLIII – 38’ top right ascending/ vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.769, CCLIII 38, as ‘Ruined castle’.
1999
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Seine, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1999, pp.271 under no.87, 274 under no.123.
The page contains a sketch, drawn horizontally, of a castle on a hill overlooking lower ground and trees to the left and a church tower to the right. Finberg noted it simply as a ‘Ruined castle’,1 but art historian Ian Warrell2 points to this sketch (as well as folios 36 verso and 37 recto, D237769–D23770, in addition to the preliminary sketch, folio 37 verso, D23771) being referred to by Turner for his watercolour, The Castle at Lillebonne, Normandy, c.1832 (Tate D24807; Turner Bequest CCLIX 242).
Warrell3 also states that this sketch (as well as folios 41 recto and 42 recto; D23778, D23780) was used as a preliminary sketch for Turner’s watercolour, Lillebonne, Looking towards the Seine, 1832 (Tate D24675; Turner Bequest CCLIX 110),4 which was engraved for Turner’s Annual Tour – Wanderings by the Seine, 1834 (Tate impression: T04702). Lillebonne is also noted as the location elsewhere.5
Technical notes:
There is a brownish stain on the left edge and a similar speck at upper centre of the page.
Caroline South
May 2017
How to cite
Caroline South, ‘Lillebonne Castle ?1829 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2019, https://www