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

Drawn with the book turned to the right are two churches on the south side of Princes Street in Edinburgh. Most prominent is the Church of St John the Evangelist which was consecrated in March 1818, just seven months before Turner drew it. As he notes, there is indeed a parapet around the building which he has drawn in detail beneath the church, along with architectural details above to the left. The spire to the right of St John’s belongs to St Cuthbert’s Presbyterian Church. Behind the churches can be seen the outline of the New Barracks of Edinburgh Castle sitting atop Castle Rock. The scale of the building, and a sense of Edinburgh street life is offered by the tiny figures that Turner has included on Princes Street.

Turner’s inscription refers to the architecture of St John’s, including the walled burial ground, the parapet above the aisle, and a feature at the corner of what Turner refers to as either ‘old’ or perhaps, if we consider Finberg’s reading, the ‘Col[onna]d[e]’.1