Joseph Mallord William Turner Bass Rock 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 38 Recto:
Bass Rock 1818
D13387
Turner Bequest CLXV 38
Turner Bequest CLXV 38
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
Stamped in black ‘CLXV 38’ bottom left
Stamped in black ‘CLXV 38’ bottom left
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 38, 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.
This view of the Bass Rock is taken from the west, presumably from a boat, and is one of many studies of the island that Turner made in preparation for his illustration to Scott’s Provincial Antiquities: Bass Rock, circa 1824 (watercolour, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight).1 The viewpoint is similar to the one on the previous page of this sketchbook (folio 37 verso; D13386; CLXV 37a), and shows the rock with its fortifications on the left. The various sketches concentrate on different aspects of the subject, and in this one Turner is interested in recording the shape of the steep edges of the island by adding shading and other small details. Turner’s Bass Rock is a composite of various different studies from 1818 and 1822, drawing on information from each to recreate the subject in watercolour back in the studio.
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