Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A. 1775-1851

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Description

Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A.
Pembroke Castle
watercolour over pencil with touches of scratching out
19 by 29.1 cm.; 7 5/8 by 11 1/2 in.

Provenance

Swinnerton;
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's New York, 10-11 January 1946, lot 45;
Lord Joicey;
Anonymous sale, Christies London, 4 November 1975, lot 57;
MacInnes

Literature

Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, 1979, p. 326-7, no. 244

Catalogue Note

Andrew Wilton suggests that Turner's watercolour view of Pembroke Castle dates from 1798. Pembroke Castle was built by the Norman’s in 1093 and is situated in the far west of Wales.

During the 1790’s Wales was an important source of inspiration for the young Turner. He visited the Principality five times in eight years, in the summers of 1792, 1794, 1795, 1798 and 1799. It was a time when Wales was largely devoid of artists, and although it would become highly important to the group of romantic landscape artists who flourished in the first half of the 19^th century, in the 1790’s Turner was something of a pioneer.

Placing the present work more firmly within Turner’s career, Andrew Wilton states that this watercolour is comparable with many of the sheets in the so-called Cyfartha Sketchbook (B.M. Turner Bequest XLI) which dates from 1798.

The subject was clearly important to Turner as he exhibited two oils of the castle at the Royal Academy in 1801 and 1806.