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

This sketch records a distant view of Skipton Castle from the north and is one of the most distant views of the castle in a series that includes folios 26 verso and 27 verso (D11078, D11080), which precede this, together with folios 171 recto and 172 recto (D11337, D11339; Turner Bequest CXLV 170, 171, near the beginning of this sketchbook as Turner used it, but probably made on the same occasion) and culminating in a detailed study in the Yorkshire 4 sketchbook (Tate D11454; Turner Bequest CXLVII 7a). It was taken from a viewpoint successively north of folios 14 verso–15 recto (D11063–D11064) and folio 8 verso (D11053), but not quite so far north as folio 11 verso (D11057). This sketch, drawn with the page turned horizontally, is upside-down in relation to the main sequence (see the sketchbook’s Introduction).

Turner visited Skipton at both the beginning and end of his tour of 1816, on 17 July and 11 August, according to the present author.1 These sketches relate to the second visit. Other sketches, recording views along Eller Beck, occur at the beginning of the sketchbook as Turner used it, starting on folio 186 recto (D11367; Turner Bequest CXLV 185).