Joseph Mallord William Turner Bass Rock 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 37 Verso:
Bass Rock 1818
D13386
Turner Bequest CLXV 37a
Turner Bequest CLXV 37a
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
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.I, p.479, CLXV 37a, as ‘Bass Rock.’.
1974
Martin Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London 1974, p.85.
1976
Werner Hofmann, Andrew Wilton, Siegmar Hosten and others, William Turner und die Landschaft seiner Zeit, exhibition catalogue, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg 1976, p.144.
1979
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.426.
1990
Frank Milner, J.M.W. Turner: Paintings in Merseyside Collections: Walker Art Gallery; Sudley Art Gallery; Williamson Art Gallery; Lady Lever Art Gallery; Liverpool University Art Gallery, Liverpool 1990, p.58.
1999
J.R. Piggott, ‘Katrina Thomson, “Turner and Sir Walter Scott. The Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland”’, Turner Society News, no.85, August 2000, pp.11–14: in ‘Reviews’, re 1999 National Gallery of Scotland exhibition and catalogue, p.12.
The drawings on this page and the next (folio 38; D13387; CLXV 38) are the most frequently cited examples of Turner’s studies of Bass Rock which he illustrated for Scott’s Provincial Antiquities: Bass Rock, circa 1824 (watercolour, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight).1 This sketchbook includes numerous examples with views from the east, south and west, made both from the shore and from a boat. This view shows the rock from the south-west with the fortifications on the south side where the lighthouse now stands. The island itself is roughly sketched, but Turner has concentrated on the fortifications, showing the steps down to the sea that have been cut into the rock. These details would not have been clear from the shore, so it is likely that Turner made this sketch from a boat that he hired to sail him around the island. Several details of the fortifications are made earlier in this sketchbook (folios 7–8; D13333–D13335; CLXV 7–8).
Thomas Ardill
October 2007
How to cite
Thomas Ardill, ‘Bass Rock 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2007, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www