Physical description
Warkworth Castle, Northumberland, watercolour depicting a castle on a rocky hill set on the coast, with storm brewing on the horizon and approaching from behind the hill.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (painted)
Date
1799 (painted)
Artist/maker
Turner, born 1775 - died 1851 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Watercolour
Dimensions
Height: 81.5 cm framed, Width: 107.7 cm framed
Object history note
Exhibited with the full title in the catalogue Warkworth Castle, Northumberland - thunder storm approaching at sun-set, and a quotation from James Thomson's The Seasons, a poem that had inspired many landscape artists since its publication in the later 1720s:
'Behold slow setting o'er the lurid grove gains
The full possession of the sky; and on yon baleful cloud
A redd'ning gloom, a magazine of fate
Ferment'.
Turner first visited the north of England in the summer of 1797, and this large watercolour was painted in his studio from a drawing he made on the spot in his sketchbook. The watercolour was later engraved for the series The Rivers of England. As expressed in the poem, it is the dramatically shifting atmosphere of the scene, combined with the rugged grandeur of the castle on its eminence, that appealed to Turner. It is exactly the kind of work that could withstand comparison with oil paintings on the Royal Academy walls.
Descriptive line
Watercolour of Warkworth Castle, Northumberland by Joseph Mallord William Turner. Great Britain, 1799.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Warrell, Ian, ed. J.M.W. Turner London: Tate Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978 1 85437 569 8.
Exhibition catalogue
Andrew Wilton The Life and Work of J M W Turner London: Academy Editions, 1979. ISBN: 0856705659.
The full text of the entry in Wilson is as follows:
"256 Warkworth Castle, Northumberland-thunder storm approaching at sun-set
R.A. 1799 (434)
Watercolour, 521 x 749
Prov.: Ellison, by whom given to the museum,
Coll.: Victoria & Albert Museum, London (Ellison gift 547)
Accompanied in the catalogue by the following lines from Thompson's Seasons:
'Behold slow setting o'er the lurid grove,
Unusual darkness broods; and growing,
gains
The full possession of the sky; and on yon
baleful cloud
A redd'ning gloom, a magazine of fate,
Ferment.'
The drawing on which this composition is based is on p. 40 of the North of England sketchbook (T.B. XXXIV). Turner used the design for a subject in the Rivers of England series, engraved in 1826 (R. 762). A corresponding watercolour is missing from the series (No. 742), and it is possible that the plate was engraved direct from this large watercolour."
David Solkin, ed. Turner and the MastersLondon: Tate Publishing, 2009. ISBN: 978-1-85437-798-2.
Exhibition catalogue
Wilton, Andrew. The Life and Work of J. M. W. Turner. London: Academy Editions, 1979. 328 p., ill. ISBN 856705659.
Exhibition History
Turner and the Masters (Prado 21/06/2010-19/09/2010)
Turner and the Masters (Musée du Louvre, Paris 22/02/2010-23/05/2010)
Turner and the Masters (Tate 23/09/2009-31/01/2010)
JMW Turner (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 23/06/2008-21/09/2008)
JMW Turner (Dallas Museum of Art 10/02/2008-18/05/2008)
JMW Turner (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC 01/10/2007-06/01/2008)
Summer Exhibition (The Royal Academy of Arts 01/01/1799-31/12/1799)
Subjects depicted
Landscapes (representations); Castles; Clouds; Coast-lines; Storms; Weather; Warkworth Castle; Light; Coastal fortifications
Categories
Paintings
Collection code
PDP
