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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Autumn Tour of Northern France 1845 > Dieppe Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dieppe Castle from the Sea 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dieppe Castle from the Sea’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 7 Recto:
Dieppe Castle from the Sea 1845
D35466
Turner Bequest CCCLX 8
Gouache and watercolour on white wove paper, 232 x 332 mm
Watermarked ‘J WHATMAN TURKEY MILL 1844’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘8’ top left, upside down
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom left
Stamped in black ‘CCCLX 8’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch depicts Dieppe Castle from almost the same angle as folio 6 recto (D35465; Turner Bequest CCCLX 7) although loose blue and turquoise watercolour washes in the foreground give the impression of the landmark as viewed from off the coast.1 Unlike that sketch, furthermore, neither underlying pencil drawing nor detailed brush-work are in use here, leaving thin washes to suggest the masses of the architecture and the high chalk cliffs beyond.
For reasons set out in the Technical notes in the sketchbook Introduction, this work appears inverted in relation to the volume as foliated.
1
For the castle’s history, see Claude Féron, Dieppe, Paris 1981, pp.22–3.
Verso:
Blank; except for small patches of lilac watercolour transferred from folio 8 recto opposite (D35467; Turner Bequest CCCLX 9).

John Chu
February 2012

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Dieppe Castle from the Sea 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-dieppe-castle-from-the-sea-r1173562, accessed 21 November 2024.