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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > England and Wales Colour Studies c.1825 ... > Unidentified Subjects, Possibly for ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Ruined Castle c.1825-38

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Ruined Castle’ c.1825-38
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
A Ruined Castle c.1825–38
D25229
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 107
Gouache and watercolour on white wove paper, 314 x 473 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘107’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 107’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In the middle distance to the left are the block-like forms of a ruined castle, caught in a diagonal shaft of sunlight which occupies about half the width of the composition. Water is possibly intended at the bottom left, and there are what appear to be paler ruins in the distance on the right.
Eric Shanes has suggested this may be a colour study relating to the series of Turner’s watercolours engraved as Picturesque View in England and Wales (published 1827–38).1 Turner began delivering the finished watercolours early in 1825, hence the broad range date given here to the present sheet. See also the introductions to the present subsection of unidentified subjects and the overall England and Wales ‘colour beginnings’ grouping to which it has been assigned.
1
Shanes 1997, p.96.
Verso:
Blank (laid down and not examined).

Matthew Imms
March 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Ruined Castle c.1825–38 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-ruined-castle-r1144358, accessed 09 May 2024.