Explorations in the footsteps of Turner, Cotman, Ruskin and others with Professor David Hill
I recently heard from the French scholar Roland Courtot. I have drawn on his work before, especially with regard to Sisteron. He has spent many years engaged in topographical research in relation to artists in the Alps. He has archived much of his work in the online research archive of the University of Aix-Marseille and … Continue reading Turner’s Mont Cenis revisited
Readers might have wondered at the recent inactivity of Sublimesites.co. Old friends will know such lapses are not infrequent. But I have not been idle. In fact I have been rummaging in a box of transparencies dating back to 1983, and encountering my former self. The occasion of all this was a Turner watercolour that … Continue reading Rediscovering Kilnsey
Watercolour, 11 3/4 x 18 1/2 ins Private Collection Turner catalogues: not in Wilton; tdb1901 This is a good-sized watercolour study of a light-suffused river valley landscape. A long, many-arched bridge stretches across the composition in the mid-distance whilst a shallow river flows away in the lower right corner. Blue hills close the distance. Bridge … Continue reading Colour beginning: Kilnsey Crag and Conistone Bridge, Upper Wharfedale Yorkshire. Called ‘A Bridge in Mist’; ‘White Bridge’, c.1825
This is the second instalment of a new series of articles in which I will revisit each of the 96 sites depicted by J.M.W.Turner in his series of engravings ‘Picturesque View in England and Wales’. These were published over a period of ten years between 1827 and 1837 but represent subjects drawn from his entire … Continue reading England and Wales Revisited: #35 Holy Island, Northumberland
J.T.Willmore after J.M.W.Turner R.A.Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1832Etching and engraving, image 164 x 233, on plate 246 x 302, printed in black ink on india paper, 241 x 298, bonded to backing sheet of heavyweight white wove paper, not watermarked 399 x 562 mmInscribed in neat script centred below image, ‘Engrvd by J.T.Willmore from a Drawing … Continue reading England and Wales Revisited: # 34 Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
Manchester City Art Gallery (1917-110) Watercolour, 291 x 419 (sight), 11 x 16 1/2 ins Turner catalogues: Wilton0814; tdb0941 This is a medium-sized, finished studio watercolour of a coastal scene with waves breaking onshore from the sea to the right. In the middle distance is a sunlit castle on a low headland. A large round-towered … Continue reading Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland, c.1828
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