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

Hylton Castle is seen as a blank silhouette on the horizon to the west-north-west up Hylton Dene. There is a smaller, wider view from a similar angle, also showing the Wear Valley to the south, on folio 11 verso opposite (D12273; Turner Bequest CLVI 8a), together with a detailed sketch of this side of the castle and its nearby chapel. Now surrounded by housing and industrial estates, the dene itself remains a combination of woods and fields. There are further studies on folios 12 verso and 13 recto (D12275, D12276; CLVI 9a, 10). See the entry for folio 13 recto and the introduction to the tour for more on the history of the site.

Technical notes:

The pencil number ‘9’ may obscure or reinforce John Ruskin’s customary red ink foliation, which is evident only faintly and intermittently in this much-rearranged book (see the sketchbook introduction).