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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1834 > Stirling and Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bothwell Bridge, Lanarkshire from the Site of the Battlefield 1834

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bothwell Bridge, Lanarkshire from the Site of the Battlefield’ 1834
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 31 Verso:
Bothwell Bridge, Lanarkshire from the Site of the Battlefield 1834
D26320
Turner Bequest CCLXIX 31a
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 113 x 190 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
David Wallace-Hadrill has identified this sketch as a view of Bothwell Bridge from the north side of the River Clyde.1 If this is so then it must have been made from the site of the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, which is situated just to the north of the bridge. The battle, and its description by Sir Walter Scott (see folio 31; D26319), was likely to have been the reason for Turner’s visit to the town, so this viewpoint may be significant. The view from the other side of the bridge, however, may hold more interest as it takes in the town of Bothwell (see folio 31). Similar-looking sketches on folios 32 and 32 verso (D26321, D26322) are also likely to have been made from the north side of the Clyde. For more information see folio 31.

Thomas Ardill
October 2010

1
David Wallace-Hadrill, [CCLXIX Checklist], [circa 1991], Tate catalogue files, unpaginated MS.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Bothwell Bridge, Lanarkshire from the Site of the Battlefield 1834 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-bothwell-bridge-lanarkshire-from-the-site-of-the-battlefield-r1136250, accessed 19 December 2024.