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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > North of England Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Harewood Castle: The Ruins from the South-East 1797

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Harewood Castle: The Ruins from the South-East’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 71 Recto:
Harewood Castle: The Ruins from the South-East 1797
D00976
Turner Bequest XXXIV 67
Pencil on white wove paper, 210 x 270 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘X Sky thro’ top right, with drawing of armorial details and inscription
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘67’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XXXIV 67’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, this is one of seven studies of the castle, all in this book; the others are on folios 72 recto, 73 recto, 75 recto, 76 recto, 77 recto and 78 recto (D00977, D00978, D00980–D00983; Turner Bequest XXXIV 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, 74). As Finberg noted, this is the subject on which a watercolour commissioned by one or other of the Lascelleses is based,1 as recorded by Turner inside the front cover of this book. It left the Harewood collection in the mid-nineteenth century, and David Hill supposes that it formed a companion to the view of Harewood Castle from the north2 still in the house. See also note on the verso below. Turner’s note in the top right-hand corner of the sheet refers to the cross placed in the window at the centre of the left-hand facing wall. He made sure to depict the ‘sky thro’ in his finished watercolour. A small oil painting of the same subject has recently been discovered;3 although its authorship has been contested, it is clearly by Turner himself. It is in a private collection.
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.324 no.222.
2
Ibid., p.324 no.221, reproduced.
3
Not in Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984.
Verso:
Inscribed by Turner ‘Wm Blake’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram. As Finberg observes,1 this inscription refers to Turner’s pupil William Blake of Newhouse and not the famous visionary poet and painter. Turner executed a small version of the subject on the recto for Blake; it was later in the collection of Holbrook Gaskell.2

Andrew Wilton
January 2013

1
Finberg 1961, p.45.
2
Wilton 1979, p.324 no.223.

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Harewood Castle: The Ruins from the South-East 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-harewood-castle-the-ruins-from-the-south-east-r1150132, accessed 18 January 2025.