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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Scotland 1818-20 > Scotch Antiquities Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Tantallon Castle 1818

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Tantallon Castle’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 16 Recto:
Tantallon Castle 1818
D13611
Turner Bequest CLXVII 15
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 186 mm
Inscribed in blue ink ‘15’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXVII 15’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This view of Tantallon Castle is similar in composition to the sketch on folio 14 (D13608; CLXVII 13), although it is taken from a little further to the south and is less finished. Turner’s use of a continuous line to represent both ruins and rocks at the left of the castle draws attention to the ragged state of the building and suggests that man’s works are temporal, returning to nature over time.
Verso:
Blank

Thomas Ardill
February 2008

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Tantallon Castle 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2008, 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-tantallon-castle-r1132159, accessed 21 November 2024.