Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle c.1830
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
?Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle
c.1830
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
?Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle c.1830
D25214
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 92
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 92
Watercolour and chalk on white wove paper, 345 x 485 mm
Watermark ‘1794 | J Whatman’
Inscribed in red ink ‘92’ bottom right (now faint)
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram below centre
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 92’ bottom right
Watermark ‘1794 | J Whatman’
Inscribed in red ink ‘92’ bottom right (now faint)
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram below centre
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 92’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1975
Turner in the British Museum: Drawings and Watercolours, Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, London, May 1975–February 1976 (41, as ‘Cockermouth Castle’, c.1810).
1993
J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Impressions de Gran Bretanya i el Continent Europeu / Impresiones de Gran Bretaña y el Continente Europeo, Centre Cultural de la Fundació ”la Caixa”, Barcelona, September–November 1993, Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación ”la Caixa”, Madrid, November 1993–January 1994 (63, reproduced in colour, as ‘Sunrise over a Ruined Castle: ?Ashby-de-la-Zouche [sic]’, c.1830).
1994
J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Aquarelles et Dessins du Legs Turner: Collection de la Tate Gallery, Londres / Watercolours and Drawings from the Turner Bequest: Collection from the Tate Gallery, London, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi, September–December 1994 (63, reproduced in colour, as ‘Sunrise over a Ruined Castle: ?Ashby-de-la-Zouche [sic]’, c.1830).
1999
Turner’s Later Papers: A Study of the Manufacture, Selection and Use of his Drawing Papers 1820–1851, Tate Gallery, London, March–June 1999 (17, reproduced, as ‘Sketch for “Cockermouth Castle, Cumberland”, c.1825).
2007
J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851); F.A. Ravier (1814–1895): Lumières partagées: Aquarelles, Maison Ravier, Morestel, June–September 2007 (no number, reproduced in colour, as ‘Sunrise over a Ruined Castle: Probably Ashby-de-la-Zouche [sic], Leicestershire’).
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.821, CCLXIII 92, as ‘Windsor Castle (?)’. c.1820–30.
1975
Andrew Wilton, Turner in the British Museum: Drawings and Watercolours, exhibition catalogue, Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, London 1975, pp.11, 46 no.41 (‘CCLXII–92’), as ‘Cockermouth Castle’. c.1810.
1987
Andrew Wilton, Turner in his Time, London 1987, pp.[133], 251, as ‘Cockermouth Castle’. c.1830, pl.183 (colour).
1989
Jeremy Robinson, The Light Eternal: A Study of J.M.W. Turner, Kidderminster 1989, p.61.
1993
Ian Warrell, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Impressions de Gran Bretanya i el Continent Europeu / Impresiones de Gran Bretaña y el Continente Europeo, exhibition catalogue, Centre Cultural de la Fundació ”la Caixa”, Barcelona 1993, pp.194–5 no.63, reproduced in colour, 303–4, as ‘Sunrise over a Ruined Castle: ?Ashby-de-la-Zouche’ (sic). c.1830.
1994
Ian Warrell, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Aquarelles et Dessins du Legs Turner: Collection de la Tate Gallery, Londres / Watercolours and Drawings from the Turner Bequest: Collection from the Tate Gallery, London, exhibition catalogue, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi 1994, pp.196–[7] no.63, reproduced in colour, as ‘Sunrise over a Ruined Castle: ?Ashby-de-la-Zouche’ (sic). c.1830.
1997
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Watercolour Explorations 1810–1842, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, pp.96, 105 (Appendix I ‘England and Wales Series’, as ‘Sketch for a view of Cockermouth Castle, Cumberland?’, p.105 Appendix II, as ‘Sketch: Cockermouth Castle, Cumberland?’).
1999
Peter Bower, Turner’s Later Papers: A Study of the Manufacture, Selection and Use of his Drawing Papers 1820–1851, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1999, p.45 no.17, reproduced, as ‘Sketch for “Cockermouth Castle, Cumberland”. c.1825, pls.17A (transmitted light detail of watermark), 17B (micrograph of surface).
2006
Andrew Wilton, Turner in his Time, revised ed., London 2006, p.121, reproduced in colour, as ‘Cockermouth Castle’. c.1830.
2008
Angela Madesani, Hiroyuki Masuyama: After J.M.W. Turner – Turner’s Journey from London to Venice/After J.M.W. Turner – Il viaggio di Turner da Londra a Venezia, exhibition catalogue, Studio la Città, Verona 2008, reproduced in colour, p.40, as ‘Cockermouth Castel [sic]’, 1830.
Andrew Wilton suggested this ‘blur of orange and white and yellow and crimson’1 relates to Turner’s painting Cockermouth Castle, exhibited in 1810 (Tate T03879; on display at Petworth House, Sussex),2 noting drawings in the 1809 Petworth and Cockermouth sketchbooks (Tate D07525–D07536, D07555–D07561; Turner Bequest CIX 13–24, CX 16–21);3 Eric Shanes suggested more specifically a ‘synthesis’ of three Petworth sketchbook studies (Tate D07530, D07533, D07536; Turner Bequest CIX 18, 21, 24),4 showing the castle on the skyline with the River Derwent among trees below.
Ian Warrell, while noting Cockermouth and Caernarfon Castle as previous identifications, plausibly suggests Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle as the subject.5 The untraced watercolour Ashby-de-la-Zouch, of about 1830,6 was engraved in 1832 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Tate impressions: T04593, T05090). Turner visited the ruins of the Leicestershire castle on his Midlands tour of 1830, making various pencil drawings round the site in the Kenilworth sketchbook, the closest to the England and Wales design being Tate D22060 (Turner Bequest CCXXXVIII 45a). In the finished composition, the low-lying foreground is populated by sheep and cows, possibly prefigured here by the loose red marks towards the bottom left, whilst this study’s shaft of light down the slope between the trees on the right corresponds to a similar sunrise effect in the untraced watercolour.
In 2008 the German-based Japanese painter and photographer Hiroyuki Masuyama (born 1968) produced an LED lightbox image based on the present work as one of a series reinterpreting Turner’s landscapes, combining the original composition with digitally layered photographic landscape and architectural elements.7 See also the introductions to the present subsection of identified subjects and the overall England and Wales ‘colour beginnings’ grouping to which this work has been assigned.
Technical notes:
Peter Bower notes that there are various sizes and types of ‘1794 | J Whatman’ paper in the Turner Bequest, but observes that Turner’s choice (if intentional) of this particular sheet decades after its manufacture ‘can only be guessed at’.1 Andrew Wilton notes the ‘interesting combination of watercolour and chalk’,2 the castle being indicated in red outline rather than the pencil usual for Turner at this date.
Peter Bower notes that there are various sizes and types of ‘1794 | J Whatman’ paper in the Turner Bequest, but observes that Turner’s choice (if intentional) of this particular sheet decades after its manufacture ‘can only be guessed at’.1 Andrew Wilton notes the ‘interesting combination of watercolour and chalk’,2 the castle being indicated in red outline rather than the pencil usual for Turner at this date.
Verso:
Blank, save for inscriptions: in pencil by ?Turner ‘26’ towards centre right, upside down; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram above ‘CCCLXIII – 92’ bottom left; and in pencil ‘AB 93 P’ and ‘CCLXIII 92’ bottom right.
Blank, save for inscriptions: in pencil by ?Turner ‘26’ towards centre right, upside down; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram above ‘CCCLXIII – 92’ bottom left; and in pencil ‘AB 93 P’ and ‘CCLXIII 92’ bottom right.
Matthew Imms
March 2013
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘?Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle c.1830 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2013, https://www