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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > County Durham and Northumberland 1817 > Durham, North Shore, Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Prudhoe Castle from across the River Tyne at Ovingham 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Prudhoe Castle from across the River Tyne at Ovingham’ 1817
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 80 Verso:
Prudhoe Castle from across the River Tyne at Ovingham 1817
D12422
Turner Bequest CLVII 80a
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 185 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘G’ centre left, ‘wood’ above centre and ‘Riv’ below centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The castle is seen to the south-east across the Tyne Valley from the south side of Ovingham village, from about the point where parallel road and foot bridges now begin, replacing an earlier ford. The broad bank below the castle is now heavily industrialised, and flanked by the Newcastle to Carlisle railway.
Towards the top of the bank on the left are twin gate pillars, leading to a house shown as a brief continuation of this view on folio 81 recto opposite (D12423). There are other views of the castle from across the Tyne on folios 77 verso–78 recto, 78 verso–79 recto and 79 verso–80 recto (D12416–D12421), and from close up on folios 89 verso, 90 verso, 91 verso, 92 verso and 93 verso (D12440, D12442, D12444, D12446, D12448). For the history of the building and Turner’s later watercolour, see the entry for D12417.
Technical notes:
There is staining or a paper fault across the upper part of the leaf, which does not show through to this side except as a slight rippling; it is visible as a patchy shape on the recto (D12421). In transmitted light it appears paler than the rest of the sheet.

Matthew Imms
February 2010

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Prudhoe Castle from across the River Tyne at Ovingham 1817 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 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-prudhoe-castle-from-across-the-river-tyne-at-ovingham-r1139423, accessed 14 February 2025.